What to do with these extra sails?

rgranger · May 9, 2017

Raise them up the mast. If they don't fit they won't look right and you will know

Davidasailor26 · May 9, 2017

The luff on the Johnson looks a little short relative to the P on the boat. I wonder if a previous owner picked it up along the way from some other boat. The Windjammer looks like a roller furling headsail, and the measurements seem plausible for your boat. A loft would definitely be able to triage them and repair things like the tears, but if the Dacron is stretched beyond its useful life there may not be much that can be done.

justsomeguy · May 9, 2017

The Spanker with the Chutescoop, if it works with your boat, is certainly worthwhile keeping.

Might take a bit of sorting out hardware and running rigging-wise, but a fun sail to fly.

Thanks for posting thumbnails. Those are some big-ass photos.

SFS · May 9, 2017

I'm so proud of everyone's restraint. The thread has been open for more than two hours, and no one has made a wisecrack about the size of his Johnson.

DArcy · May 9, 2017

Your Johnson looks very well used

, probably not worth the effort to fix. The Windjammer jib might be ok. Like rgranger said, try it on for size. The spinnaker looks great! If it fits, and you can figure out a way to rig it, ideally with a spinnaker pole, or maybe tacked to the bow, then it will be like having another gear when sailing off the wind. Especially in light wind when you might be tempted to fire up the engine. Having the snuffer makes it much safer, easier to douse if the wind picks up on you. Just blanket it with the main then snuff and drop.

DArcy · May 9, 2017

If there is a loft near you, you could take it in and ask for an opinion. I had an old (realy old, about 30 years but lightly used) jib re-stitched and now I use it all the time. It's hard to tell from the pictures what condition the cloth is. If it's more bed sheet soft than crinkly, it's likely not worth the effort.

Back to the spinnaker, find someone that knows how to fly it, buy him (or her) some beer and take them out to teach you how to set it up on your boat.

Joe · May 10, 2017

I wouldn't do anything with them, they're just extra sails and when you think you want to use them... that's the time to determine if they're worth fixing. I wouldn't spend any money on them unless I knew why I needed them. The "Johnson" is probably just the previous mainsail... you don't need it unless they newer one craps out... so put it in the garage. The other genoa is probably the previous... so you don't need that either. The spinnaker is a different animal... learn to use it first... but don't spend any money until you learn more.

A sail's size is expressed as it's sail area compared to the area created by the fore triangle.... if you go to this site... www.thesailwarehouse.com there is an explanation how sails are measured.
So a 100% jib would have an area equal to that of the fore triangle. Here's an important thing to understand. The fore triangle is a "right triangle" the mast and foredeck are the height and base of the triangle for calculating it's area. A sail is NOT a right triangle... in geometric terms the sail's luff would be the base and the height is determined by drawing perpendicular line from base to the opposing corner... which is the clew. This line is called the LP for luff perpendicular. So.... the shortcut way to express a sail's size is to divide the foredeck dimension (stem to mast) called the "J" into the sail's LP....

Okay... that said.... it appears you only have one headsail in the group... find it's LP and compare it to your boat's "J" which is 12.08 ft (look in the data page). There you go.... now study that link I gave you... the look up your boat in their data base to see if any of your sails fit into their categories. Have fun.

Davidasailor26 · May 10, 2017

For the spinnaker, I'd start by measuring the two long edges. If they're the same length then it's a symmetrical spinnaker and probably meant to be flown with a pole. If one edge is longer then that's the luff and it's an asymmetrical, for which you probably don't need a pole. My guess since it has a sock is that it's a cruising asymmetrical.

shemandr · May 10, 2017

To address the OP question: I don't think the sails are worth taking to a loft to have evaluated. I think, as rgranger said, they are worth hoisting to see how they look. My guess is not too good or they wouldn't have been included as "Extra sails."
Going back to the Boat Ads thread, it drives me nuts to see ads with 15 included sails 13 of which were replaced because they are rags. As if it's a favor for the buyer to take up room in his the garage or attic for a bunch of crappy sails. There are very likely no pearls in there. The spinnaker is different. Maybe on that one.

What to do with these extra sails?

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