Has anyone experience with sails from Lee Sails of germany?

[Sturaven]

Hi,

I was just at the boat fair in Düsseldorf getting quotes for a new mizzen sail. One quote was from a company called Lee Sails (from Flensburg, near the Danish boarder), and I have a feeling their sails are made in asia and imported. Has anyone experience of their sails?

I ask as they are ½ the price of sailmakers for example in the Netherlands/UK. Normally I never take the cheapest quote, but they are so much cheaper and I keep thinking all the extra paint I could buy!

Their quote is for similar weight cloth, 2 battens, triple stitching, reenforced clew etc. but not cloth with UV protection coating.

Cheers,

Stu.

 

[Yngmar]

One quote was from a company called Lee Sails (from Flensburg, near the Danish boarder), and I have a feeling their sails are made in asia and imported. Has anyone experience of their sails?

Lee Sails GmbH (Flensburg) is the German branch of Cheong Lee Sailmakers Ltd (Hong Kong). So the sail will indeed most likely be made in Asia due to cheaper labour (explaining the price), although they're also equipped to do repairs and alterations in Flensburg.

I know Nike of White Spot Pirates fame had her new sails made by them, so you might want to shoot her a question (she's not on here, but you can contact her on FB: https://www.facebook.com/whitespotpirates).

 

[KellysEye]

If looking for new sails choose a number of sail makers and get a sample of cloth, a magnifying glass and a bright light, put the light behind the sample and use the magnifying glass. What you will see is the different amounts of fibres in the cloth. Fibre is expensive glue is cheap, the more fibre there is the longer the sail will last before stretching. The best cloth is Hood if you a get a sample of that you can compare the fibre in the other cloths. What you will find is many sail makers use the same cheap cloth.

 

[srm]

My current boat came with a set of lightly used Lee sails. As well as cheaper labour I suspect that they are made with 'entry grade' cloth. Certainly, the sail cloth does not feel anything like as good as I have had from British made sails where I specified a mid price range dacron for offshore cruising. Had a new headsail from Jeckells made last winter with their mid price cloth and the difference is so very obvious.
Would suggest Lee head sails are good for 4 or 5 years depending on how much you expect to use them (we used ours for 4 to 6 months leisurly cruising each year, West and North Scotland, Norway and Denmark so some strong winds and much reefing). The fully battened main has a reasonable shape when reefed so will keep it for a while longer.

 

[Sturaven]

Thanks SRM for your thoughts. Good to know that they are not totally useless, but I guess it's really "you get what you pay for". Hmmm, will have to make a decision soon.