New sails - types of cloth?

[KellysEye]

>excellent durability and ease of handling and can offer many seasons good service. For those looking to improve longevity and performance potential then we would recommend the HM cloth.

As is obvious above the type of cloth will determine how long the sail lasts before stretching. The decision on which cloth is normally based on the weather you sail in (strong/light winds) and how much time you sail a year.

I've mentioned this many times, the way to check how long the cloth will last is to check how much the fibre to glue ratio is. The more fibre there is the longer the sail will last without stretching.

Get samples of cloth from different sail makers, get a magnifying glass put each cloth under it and a bright light behind it. You will immediately see the glue to fibre ratio and you will be surprised how different they are. Then make your choice, the more the fibre there is the more expensive the sail will be, but as I mentioned it will keep it's shape longer.

Hood cloth has the highest fibre to glue ratio thus for anyone thinking of going ocean sailing its a good choice and that's what we bought after testing cloths.

 

[rudolph_hart]

Crusader & Hydranet

Like snooks, I bought radial cut jib and f/b mainsail for my Dehler 35 from Crusader, who were a country mile ahead on cost compared to an handful of others.

2 seasons so far, still like new.

 

[prv]

I've mentioned this many times, the way to check how long the cloth will last is to check how much the fibre to glue ratio is.

Surely that only applies if the two sails are made of the same materials? These days it seems that is by no means a given.

Pete

 

[silver-fox]

I found this wikipedia item on sails and sail materials a very good start in explaining some of the options and finding my way around commercial brand names

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail

 

[Daydream believer]

A Maxi is a good quick boat so you want sails to match
Stick with Hyde they are a large manufacturer who make their own sails
I now have a full set of Hyde on my Hanse 311 but I did make sure I had the main cut for 3 reefs
The material was Marblehead racing. I thought I had a problem with the jib ( did not, it was my mistake) & their rep was round like a shot. He even spent a while discussing sail trim& set up for me
Their man measured the sails & they were surprisingly cheap because I ordered in October for March delivery

Smaller sail makers ( like Kemp) do not have the range of experience. In fact I found Kemp downright rude after they sold the sails' .Hyde have the back up that smaller companies do not have


That being said my squib has Lonton & Gray & the service & sails are brilliant but they sail squibs & have a lot of experience of that class. The cloth is governed by class rules. The jib they made for my Hanse out of Bainbridge cloth wore out quite quickly in spite of being a good shape at the start

I do a minimum of 2000 miles per year