Is it feasable to make your own sail?

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richardh10

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Thinking about whether or not it would be possible to make your own sail. Providing you had the correct measurements, obviously.
A decent sewing machine, a supply of sail material, plenty of time on my hands. Why not?
 
richardh10 said:
Thinking about whether or not it would be possible to make your own sail. Providing you had the correct measurements, obviously.
A decent sewing machine, a supply of sail material, plenty of time on my hands. Why not?
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And a decent book to tell you how to design the sail.

The classic is "Make Your Own Sails" by Bowker and Budd but it was first published in 1957 so will be "traditional" rather than modern.
 
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Obviously the answer is "yes", but with conditions. The amount of flat clear floor area needed is significant, plus the fact that your decent sewing machine really ought to be set-up with the foot plate at floor level. The machine itself would need to be a long-arm conversion with a powerful walking foot, otherwise forget it.

Lofting the sail is not at all straightforward and you would very much benefit from some form of heat cutting equipment. Where cringles are required you will need to sort out a method of inserting these, usually done by a high powered press, although some of can remember hand sewing these, but in Dacron perhaps not.

It's a lot of work for a result that, for most people, would be far from optimal. Good luck
 
Obviously sailmakers are human beings like you and I, so it's possible to reproduce their work with enough practice and investment in tools. However, with the exception of junk sails, which have a less complicated shape and construction, very few people do it. I think there's a good reason for that.

Pete
 
maxi said:
Obviously the answer is "yes", but with conditions. The amount of flat clear floor area needed is significant, plus the fact that your decent sewing machine really ought to be set-up with the foot plate at floor level. The machine itself would need to be a long-arm conversion with a powerful walking foot, otherwise forget it.
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Good points but I wonder how sailmakers on sailing ships managed it.

Anyone know?
 
Yeah, they stitched by hand using a sailmakers palm and needles. And had lots of holes in their hands......

The truly difficult bit about making a sail is how to cut the bits to make it. Remember that a sail when finished is not a flat piece of work but has curves built into it. Not saying it can't be done but unless you've got money to spare buying a suitable machine, space to layout and cut the material and the time to do it all, it's probably a lot easier and cheaper in the long run to have someone do the job for you.
 
Depends on the size: dinghy and small cruiser sails can certainly be made with a reasonably sturdy domestic sewing machine, as long as it has zig-zag. I have done it, but I did have some instruction by a working sailmaker. The biggest problem is finding a big enough space to lay out the panels, and once the broad seams are done, to lay flat again and shape the luff, leech and foot curves.

I sewed clew cringles in by hand, though I then borrowed a press to put in brass protective thimbles. The resulting sails set very well, and looked pretty much indistinguishable from professionally made ones. I even put my own "makers mark" at the tack on some.

As boat sizes and hence cloth weights go up, you reach a point where ordinary domestic machines will not cope with the thickness at reinforcing patch areas: you could sew these by hand, but it's not easy and really you need a professional machine. Also on sail size/weight you reach a point where the sewing machine arm is not long enough to get the bulk of material through.
 
prv;4389074very few people do it. I think there's a good reason for that. Pete[/QUOTE said:
Having given it a little more thought, and from reading the comments here, I'm inclined to agree with you!

Thanks for the comments, and for not openly questioning my sanity!
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Cindy at Wilkinsons (frequent contributor here) used to run short courses on sail repair at very reasonable prices if I remember correctly - I guess that you would pick up quite a lot of useful information on one of them.
 
TQA said:
Sure you can. These guys will sell you a suitable machine [ a domestic plastic jobbie will not punch through the bits with multiple layers ] and a pre cut sail kit.

http://search.sailrite.com/category/sailboat-sails-kit-finished

Is it economical NO but sailing your own boat with your own sails may be priceless.
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I think the smaller machines would be fine for mending a sail. But you need a really long arm to stitch panels together. A lot of hassle otherwise.
 
We made a 40 square metre mainsail last winter using a sailrite machine, in a local taverna that was shut for the winter. We had the sail designed and cut by professionals and then we put it together. With the cost of this, the materials AND buying the machine we still saved money over having a sail professionally made. We've used the sail all summer and are very happy with it.

This winter's project is a yankee and staysail!
 
Many years ago I was an apprentice sailmaker and can remember enough of the basics to tackle covers and repair sails. Making a Dacron sail isn't complicated but does require a lot floor space. I find the most difficult bit the machining, ie getting the upper and lower thread tensions consistent and feeding the upper and lower panels of the seam accurately. As with everything, the first attempt is a learning curve and the result is unlikely to be up to racing spec, to say the least.

For what it's worth, I use swmbo's domestic Toyota machine, which will tackle four or five layers of acrylic or Dacron with the right needles and a bit of care. The big secret is silicone spray. It doesn't use to much power from the invertor, either.
 
I believe most sailmakers nowadays put the sail together with double sided tape and then sew it. Sounds an excellent idea with Dacron, but many people say that on a taffeta sail the seams darken as mildew develops in the tape. It should address the alignment problem when sewing, though, especially for your first efforts.

Rob.
 
I made a few sails in years gone by. Dacron of course. For a smaller boat really not much difficulty. There is a book just called "Sails" by Jeremy Howard Williams which explains the art of getting the right curves. I also made a large jib with luff of about 35ft of light material. My old mother at the time was a good seamstress and together we sewed the seams. With a chord of about 10ft it was quite a trick to get the cloth under the arm of the machine when doing middle seams. I laid it out and cut the cloth outside.
Nowdays I seem to resort to a proffessional. One of the reasons being that the materials cost something like 50% of the total price of a proffessional built sail. So ultimately you can not save that much money when you consider the chances of stuff up and the difficulty of sewing heavier cloth fitting eyelets headboards etc. good luck olewill.
 
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