How to sew on a new UV sun strip on furling Genoa

Z

zambant

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 Jan 2010
Messages
430
Visit site
Anyone help please?

I am converting my hank on genoa to a furling.

When I attach the sunbrella uv strip do I need to hem it and wrap it around the other side of the foot and leach - say 1" wrap around?

Any help or suggestions welcome.

Many thanks

John
 
Suggest you take it to a sailmaker and get it done properly. You will need the luff changing to do away with the hanks and possibly a foam luff depending on the cut of the sail and the UV strip along the foot and the leech.
 
zambant said:
When I attach the sunbrella uv strip do I need to hem it and wrap it around the other side of the foot and leach - say 1" wrap around?
Click to expand...


basically, there are two methods

as you say one is to fold about 1" of the UV cloth over the side: depending on the shape of the leech (convex/concave) and the length of the sunbrella panels you may have to slit the cloth in places, otherwise it will crease when folded


another one is to sew the sunbrella even with the leech, then add a UV resistent dacron cloth strip over both of them: this strip is about 6-8cm long, 3cm sewn on one side and 3cm on the other side of the sail; it allows more adjustment


there is a very well made article on www.sailrite.com it explains a lot of details, also how to compute the width of the foot and leech panels to get an even cover with the furled sail


it is really not difficult, but it is very time consuming
 
Roberto has said it all, can't agree more.

I have tried doing it myself, I bought the material from point north, sailrite has a guide, pm me and I can give you more details.

It is important to work out how much material you need, it will be more than you think! (the guide shows you this).

I bought an old heavy duty singer sewing machine (not industrial) and really struggled with it.
I ended taking the sail to a nearby business that did repairs to wetsuits, tents etc. I told them exactly what i wanted, provided them with all of the materials and they did it for £30.
They weren't sail makers so this would not work out if you didn't know exactly what you wanted (and I live a long way from the nearest sailmaker anyway!)
I didn't have the space to do a good job either.

Just a few pointers.
 
also, it might not be your case as you have a hanked genoa, but may be interesting for others: should one need to replace a worn existing UV strip and choose to use a sailmaker, a substantial lower price can usually be negotiated if one removes the old strip by himself, then brings the sail to the sailmaker

again, it is a time consuming job but this time no problems of any sort: one or two £1 seam rippers, a couple of scissors and there you go, note that may well take a whole afternoon to finish though (and another one to vacuum clean the whole mess later :laugh: )
 
Last edited:
Before you do a Sunbrella strip ...... which also needs to be zig-zagged across it's width in order to stop it inflating ....... a lot of cruisers are going for self-adhesive uv-stabilised sailcloth instead. Difficult to remove, but it's less bulky and can't inflate
 
DIY sacrificial strips

Best not use self adhesive fabric ,its not really UV resistant enough,we found that it only lasts two to three seasons in the UK.The problem comes when you try to replace it ,very difficult to remove ,and just shreds when you pull it off,apart from the permanent sticky goo left on the sail.
Most sailmakers end up covering it over with another type of material threby doubling the weight of the leech of the sail.
Sunbrella is excellent for UV resistance but unless its the lighter version its rather heavy on any genoa under 32'boat.
Its also very important if you are putting a heavier fabric on the leech to ensure that the sail lies perfectly flat and the true leech concave is seen,
its not so easy to see this on an older floppy sail with little stability in the leech shape.Make sure that there is no tension on the leech line!.
You can use the fabric selvedge on the inner edge of the strip, but on the outer edge fold it over down the edge of the leech to prevent fraying.
If you have a leech line to avoid and no row of stitching down to outer edge of the sail,its more practical to fold the sunbrella on to the reverse side of the sail.
Try to sew across the strip every panel width to prevent it from filling with air,older sails are much more porous.
Good luck.
Zig zig stitching is best .
Double sided tape is used to hold it in position for sewing.
Fabric joins in the strip should be sewn thru at least two rows of stitching
 
zambant said:
Any help or suggestions welcome.

Many thanks

John
Click to expand...

Well, not help or suggestion really, but I will have to consider this myself soon as my sacrificial strip is starting to tear.
I might not bother as it will be pricy for materials, the sail is 5 years old and I should get another 5 out of it before it self destructs. I can then put the savings into a new sail.
Do let us know how you get on and perhaps how much it costs?
 
Continuing off-topic, with apologies to the OP, my strip is also at the stage where it tears easily in anything of a breeze but I simply repair with self-adhesive spinnaker repair tape. This only lasts a couple of seasons at best and is a PITA when you try to remove it (as mentioned above) but only costs a few pence to renew.

I'll soon have saved enough to buy a new sail. :)
 
DIY sacrificial strips.

The majority of Sac strips in the Uk up to the past 4 yrs are terylene sail cloth for sailboats under 35'.Terylene strips should last 4 to 6 yrs.New fabrics are now available that are more long lasting.
Sunbrella has a base weight of 9oz and it very good on laminates,suggested boat range 40 ft up.Lasts 6 to 8 yrs depending on sail use.
Now there is odyssey a Marclear Fabric good UV resistance weight 7oz,we use this on genoas above 6oz .This usually lasts longer than 6 yrs
Also Weathermax,lighter and stable ,very good UV resistance ,no fading should last in excess of 7 years.
If you have a zig-zag machine,that will take a size 19 needle & sew with a 36 0r V92 heavy polyester thread, a reasonable flat area to spread out the sail,double sided sticky tape and time and patience on your hands, there is no reason why you shouldnt have a go at replacing it yourself .
Most smaller sailmakers can supply the fabric in a wide range of colours,you normally need less than 6 metres of cloth.Thats in the price range of £12 to 16 plus VAT per metre.
By the time you get to strip number 3 on a sail you really should be considering replacing the sail!.

Cindy
 
Cindy. Your mention of using the double - sided tape when sewing reminds me that when last using d/s tape I had problems with the needle picking up the adhesive in the hole of the needle, eventually building sufficiently to jam the thread in the needle. I lubricated the needle with some ptfe spray,and completed the sewing without further build-up of adhesive. Excellent information above!

Zambant.
I was given an old genoa which had a hanked luff and not worth the cost of altering to suit my furling foil. I used some plastic sliding slugs that were the correct diameter to fit my furling slot and replaced each hank with one of these slugs. They work perfectly and could save a bob or two if the budget becomes tight. The slugs are either Holt,or possibly Seasure. I used whipping twine to secure them.


ianat182
 
Replacing a genoa sac strip

Some more tips (after doing this a few times & my own genoa this last week):
1. Recommend you use Odyssey material. The backing on this cloth makes it preferable to the much heavier acrylic 'canvas' sometimes used.
2. Look at your sail to see where the sun has attacked before and then you know the minimum width of each strip of cloth. Make it a bit bigger than the previous one plus allowance - see below.
3. Cut the cloth in required widths at an angle of approx 30 degrees. ie do not just 'hack off' at right angles from the roll of cloth. (For 'cutting' a hot knife is preferred to avoid material coming apart from the edges.)
4. Width of the cloths needs to be sufficient to fold over to line up with leech tabling plus a bit (that you will cut off later) - the leech should be folded over and sewn but for the foot it is easier to cut off with a hot knife level with edge of foot of sail as the curve is opposite to leech.
5. Lay out sail so that leech is flat and and shape is removed by putting a fold in the sail about 4 ft in from leech.
6. Apply double sided tape to 3 sides (only) of the Odyssey cloths on the treated shiny side. Apply sticky tape to the leach half way between existing tabling stitching and edge of sail - probably about an inch form the edge.
6. Starting from the head (where cloths will need adapting to fit) removing the sticky tape bit by bit & put on the cloths smoothing out carefully as you go. Starting at the top allows seams to allow water run off when complete.
7. When all stuck on and nicely conforming to shape/creases of sail, sew down the vertical inboard edge then sew the joining seams. Do not sew down the leach at this stage.
8. Turn the sail over, flatten it out once more then mark and cut so that remaining cloths when folded would fit to edge of existing leech tabling. Put sticky tape on and sew again.
9. Sew the panels down to stop billowing following a broad zig zag pattern
Foot is much the same except sew down foot to be level with edge and then hot knife the spare material.
10. Use V69 thread and a jeans needle in a heavy household machine - but you may get problems doing the areas with patches - head, clew, tack etc.

Maybe you just go to a sailmaker ......!? Hope you have a big enough space! Local hall, club or gym?
Good luck.
 
Hello Simon,
I am installing a UV strip on my vertical cut genoa. In a post here on YBW you mentioned to cut the strip material at 30 degrees. Does having a vertical-cut headsail vs. say a cross-cut sail change this angle? I believe the whole idea is to have the UV strip be able to stretch easier in the direction of the warp of the sailcloth so that it doesn´t strain the UV strip stitching. Can you shed some light on this please?

regards,
Shane Kelly
 
Roberto said:
should one need to replace a worn existing UV strip and choose to use a sailmaker, a substantial lower price can usually be negotiated if one removes the old strip by himself, then brings the sail to the sailmaker
Click to expand...

That's a useful tip. I would never have thought of that.
 
ianat182 said:
Zambant.
I was given an old genoa which had a hanked luff and not worth the cost of altering to suit my furling foil. I used some plastic sliding slugs that were the correct diameter to fit my furling slot and replaced each hank with one of these slugs. They work perfectly and could save a bob or two if the budget becomes tight. The slugs are either Holt,or possibly Seasure. I used whipping twine to secure them.

ianat182
Click to expand...

That seems like a good idea. A friend of mine has had that arrangement for years and he reckons it also makes the sail much easier to hoist and lower, should you need to change sails, especially in a wind.

There was a thread about this on here a few years ago but many pooh-poohed the idea, claiming that in a gale the foil would not be strong enough to withstand the spot loading imposed by the individual slugs. Have you had any reason to worry about that?
 
sailorman said:
Crusader done mine end of last year £250 inc collect & delivery costs it was almost 1/2 the price of Dolphin`s estimate & no transport cost with them as then collect from our marina
Click to expand...

Not sure why you are telling me. This thread is old news.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top