wildmail
Member
How long should laminate sails (from North Sails) used for circumnavigation (Atlantic and Pacific) approx. last? (3 years, 10 years?)
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
Laminate sails
- Thread starter wildmail
- Start date
Helina
Well-Known Member
North 3DL Marathon or NorLam spectra Gatorback
laminates appr. 7 years. Told me the North sailmaker in Finland.
laminates appr. 7 years. Told me the North sailmaker in Finland.
dom
Well-Known Member
A sails lifespan depends on many factors including:
Type of material used - laminate sails can be made from a range of materials some very durable like cruising Spectra and some like the high modulus Americas Cup carbon sails not very durable at all. UV sensitivity etc also are relevant. Also important is to specify heavyish sails for long distance cruising.
Wind range sails designed - sails set in winds beyond their limit will be damaged quickly.
Maintenance - both to the sails and rig
Crew numbers/skill - flogging destroys sails pretty quickly. Tacks, gybes reefing should be as efficient as possible. Sails also need to be set properly
Tolerance to change in shape - i.e. How important is perfect sail shape to you?
Type of material used - laminate sails can be made from a range of materials some very durable like cruising Spectra and some like the high modulus Americas Cup carbon sails not very durable at all. UV sensitivity etc also are relevant. Also important is to specify heavyish sails for long distance cruising.
Wind range sails designed - sails set in winds beyond their limit will be damaged quickly.
Maintenance - both to the sails and rig
Crew numbers/skill - flogging destroys sails pretty quickly. Tacks, gybes reefing should be as efficient as possible. Sails also need to be set properly
Tolerance to change in shape - i.e. How important is perfect sail shape to you?
wildmail
Member
Thanks for input - I believe these sails are spectra. Shape and optimal speed doesn't matter much.
jamesjermain
Well-Known Member
A suit of laminated sails that have been around the world is likely to be pretty near the end of its life, however old the sails are. They will have seen more use than most cruising sails will see in 10 years and have been exposed to high levels of UV for long periods.
If they set OK and give you as much performance as you need then carry on using them. But they might well fail at any time.
If they set OK and give you as much performance as you need then carry on using them. But they might well fail at any time.
clouty
Well-Known Member
Take a load of sticky-backed dacron (insignia cloth from Kayo or Point North) for repairs.
kingfisher
Well-Known Member
I would assume that the main drawback of laminate sails for long distance cruising is that they are more difficult to repair on the fly. A tear in dacron sails can be fixed by sowing a patch on the sail, where I don't know if the same goes for laminate sails ?
clouty
Well-Known Member
Keep an eye, reinforce as above when creases threaten to become splits. yes you can then sew through the dacron, but not too near the edge.
Sybarite
Well-Known Member
I enquired recently of a leading sailmaker in France and he decidely discouraged me from considering anything other than the basic for cruising purposes.
John.
John.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
It's like any high-performance device. Great when fresh and well tuned, but rubbish when past their best and not used to their full potential.
You'll get more dependable performance without as much trimming from less esoteric materials.
You'll get more dependable performance without as much trimming from less esoteric materials.
dom
Well-Known Member
Laminated sals, however, differ greatly amongst themselves and some very good and robust cruising sails exist. There are arguments on both sides but I would nait throw out all laminates on the basis that they might be as prickly to use as some of the high modulus 3DL sails used for racing.
Robin
Well-Known Member
When we bought our boat she came with a 5 year old North Mylar laminated genoa that set beautifully but yet was found to be very near to total failure on closer inspection, the boat had spent 5 years cruising the Med so the sail was well used.
Our sailmaker advised that because of the size of boat with a big genoa and high sail loadings, a standard Dacron sail even in the very best cloth would distort out of shape after just a year or two of use albeit remaining useably intact for 10 years plus. By comparison a laminate sail would remain in shape pretty well for it's entire life, but unfortunately that lifetime might be much shorter than with straight Dacron, maybe as little as 5 years! We wanted better than that so went for a high tech Dimension Polyant woven 'Hydra-Net' Dacron which has Spectra/Dyneema fibres woven into both the warp and weft at around 6mm intervals giving a very high resistance to stretch (and tear resistance), thus far after 4 full seasons I am well impressed. See Hydra-Net We used the same cloth too when we later replaced the mainsail, again very impressed. There may well be other newer options around now as well of course.
Our sailmaker advised that because of the size of boat with a big genoa and high sail loadings, a standard Dacron sail even in the very best cloth would distort out of shape after just a year or two of use albeit remaining useably intact for 10 years plus. By comparison a laminate sail would remain in shape pretty well for it's entire life, but unfortunately that lifetime might be much shorter than with straight Dacron, maybe as little as 5 years! We wanted better than that so went for a high tech Dimension Polyant woven 'Hydra-Net' Dacron which has Spectra/Dyneema fibres woven into both the warp and weft at around 6mm intervals giving a very high resistance to stretch (and tear resistance), thus far after 4 full seasons I am well impressed. See Hydra-Net We used the same cloth too when we later replaced the mainsail, again very impressed. There may well be other newer options around now as well of course.
dom
Well-Known Member
I totally agree that Dacron sails become less suitable as sail size/loadings increase. I use a heavy cruising Spectra for the main and genoa for general use. Interestingly I gave the sails to North for an inspection and to my surprise after four years they only needed the normal annual maintenance work. For an inner heavy weather jib I tried Hydranet and the sail seems to work very well. There are loads of newer materials on the market none of which I would use for cruising until they have passed a five year quarantine period so to speak!
Robin
Well-Known Member
That was my feeling too, in our case there was a boat with a set of very early Hydra-Net sails half way into a circumnavigation that was impressed with them. Our North laminate genoa failed because the clth part (taffeta?) rotted from UV and the stitches were starting to look more like perforations to 'tear here' along!
