Main too long.

P

pandos

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 Oct 2004
Messages
3,201
Location
Ireland, (Crosshaven)
Visit site
The luff on my main is too long. It was made that way for the previous owner and it is 3 years old but only sailed 100 hours or so. It is not stretched.

I was thinking of cutting 6 inches off the top and putting a bigger headboard on to support the leach. It would be about 10 inches front to back.

Does this sound crazy.

Where can I buy a big headboard??

Sail makers over here are incapable of not taking the p**s when it comes to price. I had a quote today of €170 to put on sail numbers with no assurance that they would stay on because the sail was not brand new.

I know that when I ask for a quote to shorten the sail it will be chin rubbing time and all complicated excuses.

Thanks in advance
 
I had a similar experience of "Rip-of Ireland" here when looking to get sailnumbers added on my Sail - slightly higher I think. I sent them to Quay Sails (where they were made), and with post & packing included the job cost around 25% of what I was quoted locally.

For new Sails, I got quotes from around 5-6 sailmakers at the boat show, including from a well-known Dublin Sailmaker. Guess who was highest - by about 15%. Fine I thought, local support and all that - went to place the order to find out that it didnt include VAT !!!

Shame on you Irish Sailmakers.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I was thinking of cutting 6 inches off the top and putting a bigger headboard......It would be about 10 inches front to back.


[/ QUOTE ] Take care that it won't foul the backstay(s).
 
That could well be a problem. It really needs the leech reducing by tapering all the way up. Which will mean altering the batten pockets. Can't you just lower the gooseneck?
 
The boat is a HR352. the boom is already too low, I do not really think that the backstay will be a problem.

There is a good few feet between the end of the boom and the backstay.

I will be able to test my sizes by hauling up a piece of ply, with a sail slug fixed to it.
 
I agree- having spent some time making and developing sails you either need to get the leech cut down when you 'trim' the head (which will alter the draft of the sail), or (preferably) take 6 inches off the foot - cunningham is just an eyelet in the sail - it will be the best solution and keep your sail looking a good shape.
 
I had the same problem, but could just lower the boom a couple of inches. It seemed there would be a load of work to do to chop the foot as all the reinforcing at the tack and clew would need repositioning.
 
I also ended up with a mainsail with luff too long. One trick that gave me a few inches was to do without a shackle at the halyard to sail top.
I put a bolt through the wire thimble to the side of the headboard /eyelet this has the desired effect but leaves a lop sided pull on the sail.
Now to make the pull balanced I had a small piece of SS about 20mm wide 60 mm wide, 2mm thick with a hole in one end to suit the bolt through eyelet.(6mm) A large hole was drilled in the other end about 8mm diameter with a 6mm diameter hole at the very end. The area between the two holes was filed out so that I had a key hole. The bottom hole in the plate needs to be level with the bottom of the thimble.
Of course if you are using a rope halyard then you probably can't shorten it much more after removing the shackle. good luck olewill
The thimble and swage will pass through the key hole and the plate pulled so the smaller hole has the wire/swage pass ing through it but the plate pulls on the thimble.
The end effect is a fork with thimble one side and the plate with hole in the other side. So when attached to the sail only about 20mm of swage lies above the sail. The sail can be pulled right up nearly to the top halyard pulley. This is an improvement on a shackle at the sail going to the thimble with the swage on top again requiring about 75 mm min between the top of the sail and halyard pulley.

This trick alone or combined with using the cunningham eye as the tack eyelet and if fitted a flattening reef at the boom end to lift the boom a little may avert the horendous sail modification costs.
olewill
 
Would it be simpler to cut the sail somewhere in the center where there are less reinforcements and splice it together. That way you would not have to modify the critical head and foot. Just my 2.5 cent worth.
 
But then the leech would have a step in it!!!!

The ideal solution is to have a good sailmaker unpick the bottom panel, recut it, and restitch it... this way shape and draft are maintained...

About the only downside is that you will remove slightly less sail when reefing...
 
The only way to do it properly is to recut the leach. Obviously, this will involve repositioning all the batten pockets, reef patches etc.

Cutting of the foot is not an option. Invariably, the tack seam has a fair amount of curve (fullness) built in. You will lose this and the sail will end up as flat as a board. Also, the knock-back (distance between the tack and the back of the mast will have to be remeasured and allowed for.

The reason why your sailmaker will give no guarantee on numbers stuck on an old sail is salt impregantion. Oh, and if it's dacron it will have stretched.
 
Definitely the best solution. Unpick the bottom panel. Cut the necessary amount from the top of the panel. Re-sew the bottom panel to the sail repairing the luff and trimming the leach at the same time. The clew and leach line will need to be sorted but apart from that there should be very little complication.

I did this once by hand on an old dinghy sail to make a suitable sail for the kids.I didn't even move the clew. I just tapered the leach to make it slightly 'hollow' at the foot.
 
well thats completely contrary to what a sailmaker advised me when I enquired of the same issue last year...

His view was that taking the bottom panel out, he could maintain the same shape in the foot by carefully cutting the panel to recreate the fullness... and that was on a sail with a bolt rope foot, not a loose foot... it was a sail with panels cut at an angle though, not in parallel with the battens.... though not sure that makes any difference?

Cost wise, he also explained that reducing the leech involved considerable work on the head reinforcing, the clew reinforcing, plus all the reinforcing around the reefing cringles, plus moving the batten ends, shortening the battens etc, and such was almost certainly going to be more expensive....
 
MC, your chap may be able to maintain the foot shape that way either by haveing a loose/shelf foot.

The main problem is the built-in shape caused by the overlap in the tack seam projects up the sail in conjunction with the luff rounding to give the sail its flying shape (this is probably as clear as mud!)

In a ordinary cross cut sail usually only the first couple of seams have the shape built in (broad seam). So to cut these off the bottom of the sail may flatten the sail to an unacceptable degree.

One way round the problem, could be to cut off the foot, lift the luff tape for a good third and cut darts to put a bit of fullness back into the sail. Not pretty and the fullness may end up too far forward (sail backwinds all the time)

Let this be a lesson to always get the sailmaker to take his own measurements of your boat and never rely on "class/designer's standards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top