New Sails - Dacron or laminates??

S

swanny

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 Jan 2006
Messages
156
Location
Uk, but travel so much I need a TomTom to find my
Visit site
The boat is a cruising only ketch. I have just ordered Tricut Bainbridge Cruising Mylar sandwich laminate sails from Lee sails in Germany (boat is close by). Now all my sailing buddies are telling me I am crazy to buy laminates for a cruising boat! Lee Sails have not 'Sold'me on the laminates, they pointed out all the options and let me decide. I went for laminate because although we accept their total lifespan is less than Dacron, they should hold their shape for most if not all of that lifespan. Whereas, in my humble opinion, the Dacron will last longer but for the additional lifespan over the laminates will have probably lost most of their useful shape. Am I right or wrong on this. My buddies tell me the roller furler is the problem. It will work the laminate genoa too hard and probably bring on delamination after only three to four years! Could this be true? Are laminate sails not a healthy match with a roller furler? I have ordered beefed up sails with as they quote 'heavey reinforcements' and Lee Sails tell me they are up to the mark for blue water sailing! (I wish!). Buddies tell me tri/radial cut Dacron will hold shape as long or longer than laminate sails or crosscut and will be harder wearing and last longer. Lee Sails didn't discuss with me the option of anything but cross cut (45cm panels) in the Dacron option. Help! He comes to trim the righ and measure up this week!
 
I wonder if you are asking in the wrong forum, unless there are a lot of racing sailors here?

I've never seen a long distance cruising boat with anything other than Dacron. Don't know if that means laminates are bad news for cruising or we're just conservative.
 
The advantage of laminate over dacron is that the laminate sail will look good and perform until it falls apart.The dacron will stretch ,and keep on stretching and never look or perform. I have had laminate roller furling headsails on my last two boats and found that I could keep up high speeds at 30knots of wind,at 30 degrees to the wind.Go for the laminate.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...t......My buddies tell me the roller furler is the problem. It will work the laminate genoa too hard and probably bring on delamination after only three to four years! .....

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry but this is rubbish. There are many reasons for and against laminate but this is NOT one of them. whilst this used to be the case with say Mylar 15 or 20 years ago things have move on a lot. I have to admit that I have 2 Foresails for my boat that first one is a 140% Spectra used to about f6 and the other is a cross cut 100% Dacron used from about f5. I change sails because of the shape and not because of the material.

Will a woven sail last longer than a laminate one? It depends on use. YYou pay your money and make your choice.
 
>The dacron will stretch ,and keep on stretching and never look or perform.

Err, don't know where you get that from, albeit there are quality Dacron sails and cheaper rubbish.

At the quality end we have a set of Hood Dacron saills that have done coming on ten thousand miles in conditions from mild to forty knots plus. In shape terms they are as good as new and the performance is also unchanged.
 
My biggest concern, if you are a cruiser, is how you intend to effect repairs? Which believe me will be needed at some point!
We have dacron, and they most certainly haven't stretched and hold the most magnificent shape when sailing. They have taken us over 20,000 miles and are still in great condition.

www.gerryantics.blogspot.com
 
[ QUOTE ]
Dacron will last longer but for the additional lifespan over the laminates will have probably lost most of their useful shape [ QUOTE ]

I've just ordered new Dacron sails for my Contest 42 and I can't wait!!

Although everyone I spoke to certainly agreed that Dacron will loose its shape over time, there are different grades of material and it's worth paying for the best quality cloth available if you want longevity and retention of shape.
Also, it seems a bit daft to me to have (allbeit very beautiful) double taffeta racing sails on a cruising boat. Surely cruising boats look nicer with white sails! And would you really want other people to think you were a racer?
Also, if you are a cruiser, does the odd half a knot here or there make much difference to you?

[ QUOTE ]
Buddies tell me tri/radial cut Dacron will hold shape........[ QUOTE ]


I asked about tri-radial (because it looks pretty) but was told that although tri-radial in Dacron was good on smaller boats, it would be pushing it when you get up to 40ft or more.

Oh well, I'm certainly not a sail (or anything else) expert, but I can't wait to see my beautiful new WHITE DACRON CROSSCUT sails.

They'll be (much) cheaper, last (much) longer and hopefully be (much) easier to handle than laminated sails.

They wont look quite as sexy though!
 
Faced with a similar choice - my sailmaker reckons radial cut Dacron looks good but loses its shape within 2 seasons and recommends crosscut for Dacron cruising.

Having had a crosscut Dacron for 6 years, which has worn and now been ditched (about 22K miles) I wouldn't look at another crosscut Dacron. That's mainly because it's too heavy, won't shape in anything but heavy winds (when it loses shape as you roll it down).

I'm back to using the old (one is 18 years old) 2 mitre cut headsails. Apart from one having a little broad seam taken out of one they still perform admirably.

Conclusions :- in search of ever lower prices for cruising sails, cheaper woven material is being used, making Dacron sails a more apparent than real economy. Large (>130%) headsails in Dacron are too heavy for light winds so defeat their own purpose. On the whole all the points are stacking up to having a 150% radial taffeta-protected laminate to go with the 130% and 140% genoas.
The difference in price between woven Vectran and laminated Dyneema is so small, and the UV performance of the latter so much better, that it makes quality-cloth sails uneconomic.

Can't disagree more with the point about cruisers not needing that extra knot or half a knot - cruisers are racing a weather window, racers each other - with similar sails and ratings they couldn't care less about going fast, but only faster then the next chap.
 
This may not be relevant but i went through the same process longing for those "click clack" sails the races use & are able to pass by in a very light breez leaving me wondering how my main got a bier belly when theres never been any on board

For me it came down to pounds shillings & pence i found a sail shop in Elba(i naturally think its good!) they recut mine and as there now "pre streched" have suited my needs well,leaving a few pence over to continue eating
 
I have a 135 laminate coming from Quantum in the next few days. After much discussion with colleagues and professionals I sure hope I made the right choice. I'll let you know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top