A useful flag thread [ PROMISE ]

[TQA]

My current red ensign is starting to fray after 8 months which is making me unhappy as the one I came out from the UK with back in the 90s lasted several years.

As I have some one coming out from the UK I might as well get them to bring one with them.

What is the best material for the tropics?

So my real question is, who makes the longest lasting red ensign.

 

[prv]

I don't really have much experience in the tropics, but would natural fibre (cotton, hemp, etc) make sense? On the basis that naturals hate damp but are fine with sunlight, and synthetics are vice-versa.

My ensign is from Ensign Flags in Liverpool and certainly seems well put together. I talked with them a fair bit when I took over the forum burgees from Haydn (I think I've been superceded in turn!) and I got the impression they were quite flexible and willing to consider options, so maybe they'd do you a special in heavier fabric if that would help?

Pete

 

[VicS]

I don't really have much experience in the tropics, but would natural fibre (cotton, hemp, etc) make sense? On the basis that naturals hate damp but are fine with sunlight, and synthetics are vice-versa.
Pete

Can you get flags made of natural fibre.

The best seem to be made using an MOD approved woven polyester.

The cheap and gaudy are printed on nylon!

 

[sailorman]

My current red ensign is starting to fray after 8 months which is making me unhappy as the one I came out from the UK with back in the 90s lasted several years.

As I have some one coming out from the UK I might as well get them to bring one with them.

What is the best material for the tropics?

So my real question is, who makes the longest lasting red ensign.

try the ensign flag co in Liverpool

 

[alahol2]

As already stated woven polyester is the 'top of the line'. You could always spec an anti-fray net to prolong the life.

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

The original woollen bunting was always the favourite -- and standard -- material, but regrettably is no longer available anywhere (unless you can fluke a secondhand flag made from it somewhere), and I don't know of any other natural fibre in use. Top-quality bunting is now heavy-duty woven polyester, as stated.

The very best flags are considered to be those that are fully-sewn/appliquéd on heavy-duty bunting. Printed flags are not quite as up-market-looking (although for a very detailed design, say on a house flag, digital printing on heavy-duty bunting -- a 'composite' flag -- will be considerably more economical).

Going further down-scale, there is then twenty-denier nylon, then trilobal or knitted polyester, then acetate satin or polyester satin (which is glossy on one side and so sometimes used for ceremonial flags, where two are sewn back-to-back), and finally light-weight printed polyester.

Generally the price follows the longevity down, as you would expect.

As to printing, screen-printing has now been largely superseded by digital printing, which is itself considered to be not quite as good as dye-sublimation printing, but you probably wouldn't notice much if any difference between the three.

Mike

 

[NormanS]

I extend the llife of mine, by taking it down at sunset.:encouragement:

 

[prv]

Can you get flags made of natural fibre.

Probably not off the shelf, but you could have one made. In his position I might even try making one myself, but he probably doesn't have a sewing machine on board.

I have a number of courtesy and signal flags that I think are made of natural fibres - my great aunt hand-sewed them in the 1950s!

Pete

 

[TQA]

Even when I did have and use a sewing machine I balked at reproducing the red ensign. French flag yes Union Jack for the top corner no.

So it is a polyester fabric one that will last longest. The ones I can buy locally are printed nylon.

 

[prv]

The ones I can buy locally are printed nylon.

Oh, yuck

Yep, you definitely want sewn polyester.

Pete

 

[Tidewaiter2]

Oh, yuck

Yep, you definitely want sewn polyester.

Pete

You can get a Forum burgee from Ensign too, so we can all blag a beer off you when we can finally afford a charter week out there:encouragement:

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

Here are details of a printed nylon ensign vs a sewn bunting one -- first three nylon, last three sewn --

Notice how the nylon refuses to lie flat owing to puckering of the hem. That hem will have torn within a few weeks. Also note that the material is so thin you can read the chart through it....

Completed item --

There's really no comparison in my view.

Mike

 

[LadyInBed]

Couldn't you get one made locally?

 

[TQA]

Couldn't you get one made locally?

I probably could but would have to supply the material etc. It will be easier and possibly less expensive to buy one or two in the UK and have my guests who are coming out soon bring them.

 

[AndrewB]

How about switching your registration to Holland or Germany? That way all you need do is trim down the frayed edge of your cheap ensign at the end of each season and it'll last many years.

 

[TQA]

How about switching your registration to Holland or Germany? That way all you need do is trim down the frayed edge of your cheap ensign at the end of each season and it'll last many years.

This is a sore point at the moment, I hold a British passport and pay tax in Britain on my pensions. However as I don't sleep in Britain 185 nights a year I can not renew my SSR and instead have to go part 1. Now the part 1 fees are more, a lot more, but are within bounds. What is not reasonable is that I have to get a MCA authorized surveyor to measure my boat for this totally archaic Thames Tonnage certification. I have been lucky to find one on the island where I am so it is only moderately extortionate, others in the same boat have been stung with flights hotels and per diem costs as well as the surveyors fee.

OK I know it does involve a bit more but in this day and age generating an arbitrary tonnage rating based on two or three simple measurements GAHHHHHH!

I suppose I could fly a cheap flag of convenience but dammit I am British so it is the red ensign that will dangle from my stern.

 

[doug748]

Even when I did have and use a sewing machine I balked at reproducing the red ensign. French flag yes Union Jack for the top corner no.

So it is a polyester fabric one that will last longest. The ones I can buy locally are printed nylon.

I had two old sewn ensigns which I cut the top, difficult, corner off.

I now sew these onto each side of any old bit of red stuff, to create a new ensign. Making them overlong means, as they fray, I can reef them down and re-hem.

When the whole flag becomes less than a foot long - It is time to make a new one.

Save a fortune, well a small fortune.

 

[Graham_Wright]

If you want quality, make sure the ratios are right. I think it is two to one, broad to narrow. At the SBS, a flag specialist had ensigns correct on one side but almost one to one on the other. This was due to the way the seams were sewn. Worst of all, were the Sunseeker ensigns. Pathetically thin and one to one ratios.

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

Ah. Good point, Graham. I'm afraid I don't know what the UK's ratio is, but Oz is 2:1 and Switzerland is 1:1, and there are a lot in between.

Maybe a Brit can confirm that the Union Flag's correct ratio is 2:1?

Mike

 

[Sarnia]

Ah. Good point, Graham. I'm afraid I don't know what the UK's ratio is, but Oz is 2:1 and Switzerland is 1:1, and there are a lot in between.

Maybe a Brit can confirm that the Union Flag's correct ratio is 2:1?

Mike

Yes