New Genoa - which cloth?

[Robin]

Mark, talk to Paul.Andy or Roger at Crusader about Hydranet. When we went that route they had boats on circumnavigations with Hydranet sails that had reached where the tinnies are cold and reporting very good results with early versions of Hydranet. We ordered Mk2 Hydranet with both warp and weft Dyneema threads, initially 5 years ago for our triradial genoa, but again 2 years ago for a fully battened triradial loosefooted main. Both sails have been superb. However bear in mind we have a boat with very powerful rig and therefore high sail loadings. Paul told me that we could have very long life Dacron sails that would stretch out of shape in a year or so, wouldn't fall apart but would lose performance. or laminates that would be great for a few years then fail catastrophically and would show mildew too. The compromise alternative was a high quality Dacron woven in at 5-6mm intervals in warp and weft with Dyneema - this was Dimension Polyant's 'Hydranet'. This looks quite normal until the sun catches it and you can see the mesh formed by the Dyneema.

 

[Talbot]

Thanks, not really in the market for new sails at the moment - trying to sell the boat, but will want decent cruising sails for the next one

 

[dedwards]

I think, as somebody else has pointed out, that this may be a result of the kemp buyout. The Kemp guy was saying that generally one of the brands will be cheaper for smaller boats but then the other will be better value as you go up the size range. All our quotes are coming in at about £700 for a 135% with UV (this is for a 28' boat).

Hood do still weave their own fabric (in ireland) and it seems to be a bit lighter than other fabrics (if this makes a difference).

Anyway, I have now got a couple of quotes from crusader and their biradial genoa is about £130 more expensive. What benefits will I get from this cut over basic cross cut?

 

[Goldie]

I'm not convinced that there will be a benefit if you're looking at a bi-radial dacron sail, although it will presumably be more labour intensive (expensive!) to make. That was certainly the advice I received from most sailmakers when I asked the same question. With a laminate cloth, it would be a different matter.