Buying new or nearly new sails

[kevsbox]

Hi All

The sails on our Centaur are looking tired and so we are thinking about buying new or nearly new sails for her.
Can anyone recommend good places to source these in the Solent area?

Kev

 

[ash2020]

C&J Marine in Chichester have a big list of used sails. Might be worth a look.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Measure your existing ones, and scour the sailmakers sites for ones that will fit. Almost all have a second hand list.

 

[Refueler]

When you measure up your existing sails ... have a serious think about any characteristic you would like to cure or reduce.

My SR25 (similar to Centaur) has weatherhelm .. I reduced it by replacing the long footed genoa with one shorter on foot .. taller on luff. The speed of the boat being same or slightly better.

I was able to choose an easier handled material instead of the heavy previous ..

Do you want ease of cruising such as a flatter sail or do you want a full body ?

You have an opportunity to do 'two birds - one stone' .....

 

[Chiara’s slave]

When you measure up your existing sails ... have a serious think about any characteristic you would like to cure or reduce.

My SR25 (similar to Centaur) has weatherhelm .. I reduced it by replacing the long footed genoa with one shorter on foot .. taller on luff. The speed of the boat being same or slightly better.

I was able to choose an easier handled material instead of the heavy previous ..

Do you want ease of cruising such as a flatter sail or do you want a full body ?

You have an opportunity to do 'two birds - one stone' .....

A great advantage in having new sails, made for ypu, not someone elses cast offs. However, money can be saved, and second hand sails can work well. But if new ones are within budget, then the art of sailmaking has moved on since the building of Centuars. It can be done much better.

 

[Refueler]

I bought my replacement sail from "Exchangesails" .. who I believe were the old Westaway ??

I know some have posted dissatisfaction with them ... but I could not ask better service ... they discussed by email and phone all matters and advised when I asked about sails on their list .. they packed sail well ... couriered it out to me ... and the sail was IMHO better than they had listed. The price was very good.

That sail graces my SR25 and I am very happy with it. I only made one error and no fault of seller ... I chose wrong wide for UV strip ... which meant changing the furling arrangements ... luckily the Plastimo 608 doesn't care !!

 

[doug748]

These may be worth a look and are local:

Contact Us

Facebook Marketplace can sometimes turn up something useful.

Beware, Exchange Sails have their list in a number of places, they are pretty near to me. Don't bother is my advice.

.

 

[Refueler]

I have no concern going back to Exchangesails .. as I say - they supplied an excellent sail for my SR25.

 

[Kwik Decision]

I have no concern going back to Exchangesails .. as I say - they supplied an excellent sail for my SR25.

You're lucky. The sails they delivered to me were nothing like those described over the phone. Fortunately I'd paid by credit card, so after many phone calls and false promises I was able to claim my money back from the credit card company.