OK, I want to buy a cruising chute with snuffer. Sailmaker advice please.

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mainsail1

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Thanks for all the advice on the other thread. I do want to buy a cruising chute and I am going to try a snuffer as the boat is 40 feet long and often crewed shorthanded.
For many years I have used one sailmaker for everything but recently I have thought the time may have come for a change as the last two purchases have not filled me with joy. I would like to support UK manufacturers. Who would be best for a cruising chute and snuffer?
 
Pete Sanders made / supplied the least bad snuffer I've ever used. He does make a nice kite as well.

Top bloke too.
 
My spinnaker was supplied by Sanders and my cruising chute by North. The sails and the snuffers are both comparable, and I am happy with the service (and the results) I got from both sailmakers.
 
I was quite happy with my lot from Crusader down at Poole (or Bournemouth if you see it that way).

First snuffer (not Crusader) included a massive bell like GRP construction which was effective but heavy and I always wondered if it might clout me one as I got it down. Crusader's version is a lot simpler a sort of wire loop in the snuffer itself but so far (8 years) has done the job with no probs.
 
One Sails. I have found their down wind sails very good. Peter Kay has sorted all mine for years now.

The snuffers they supply are excellent, just tell them you want the same as Doris. Important to get a nylon bucket and not a GRP one. The GRP is heavy, cumbersome and bashes around.
 
flaming said:
Pete Sanders made / supplied the least bad snuffer I've ever used. He does make a nice kite as well.

Top bloke too.
Click to expand...

Another vote for Sanders. He came to the boat and spent a lot of time taking the measurements even asking me to stand on the other side to balance his weight.
It fitted perfectly and with the snuffer, has been a joy to use but we only fly it, without a pole, in winds up to 10 knots. Easy to haul up, let fly and snuff away.
 
doris said:
Important to get a nylon bucket and not a GRP one. The GRP is heavy, cumbersome and bashes around.
Click to expand...

I suspect Mainsail is unlikely to find a unanimous consensus here - not only which sailmaker to use, but also what material for the "bucket".

Both of mine are GRP and, whilst I have no experience of nylon ones, I have never had a problem with the GRP being cumbersome or bashing around. Sure, if the sock were hoisted with the sail snuffed and the bottom allowed to flail around then I could foresee a potential problem, but I only let go of the snuffer at the moment I am ready to break out the sail. I can accept that a GRP bucket will be heavier than a nylon one, but hardly any weight at all.
 
Two h'aporth..I have a cruising chute from Arun which I use with a soft mouth snuffer from Crusader, I use them a lot more than I had dared hope and it makes a huge difference, just patiently ease the boat up to a bit of speed and suddenly in light airs you are the only thing moving properly, everyone else is motoring,wallowing and slatting their hard-in mainsails..and burning fuel and breathing loverly transom fumes...Money well spent IMHO

( There, have I confirmed your excellent decision enough?)

It is ''probably'' worth getting snuffer and chute from the same sailmaker. It was thought that mine own snuffer would have been built rather slim at the top end but as it works very easily, I cannot speak with authority on that..

I have heard nowt but excellent reports about Sanders at lymington, lots seem to favour Crusader, I had a email quote from them that was within a few pounds and sadly almost impossible to read but I suspect that is atypical of most peoples experiences here of them, so take that with a large pinch of salt if you will....

I also have a whopper scarybig spinnaker with grp bell end on the snuffer and it certainly is a heavy enough fabrication and will clonk impressively against the mast or radar or w h y if allowed to ..On my list of things to do to cut it out and change it to a soft end
 
Crusader have given me very good service recently with a main and jib. Paul Lees is affable and efficient and comes to the boat to measure and do a final fit if necessary. Prices may not be the cheapest but the sails are made in the UK.
 
Snuffers are for wimps.

On my last boat I used a Sparcraft bowsprit, an "Ovington" 49'er spinnaker chute bar and a halyard
and striker arrangement as previously installed on an Int. 14.

Edward Hyde's Company will talk you through your asymmetric requirements and provide a turtle
to suspend from your companionway hatch for the sail.

Come on guys, no more armchair sailing!
 
Paul Leese of Crusader has good advice and ancillaries for most types, from boy-racers around the cans to transoceanic square-riggers.
He's doing a complete suit for an American schooner >30m.
In fact most sailmakers, who cut and sew their own sails, give good advice.
 
Kemp Sails in Wareham.
But these days I might look for a used racing asymmetric from a J-somethingorother?
First cruising chute I bought was too heavy cloth, I thought I wanted something to sail fast in a breeze.
A 3/4Oz full tri-radial or star-cut is more useful in reality IMHO.
I would also get one of those bowsprits and get the biggest kite you reasonably can.
IME, extending its usefulness down the wind range into drifters where others have the donkey on, is far more satisfying than using it to gain 0.5knot in a breeze where the main and genoa do the business fairly well anyway.
A personal choice, but something to consider before purchase IMHO.
 
actionoptics said:
Another vote for Sanders. He came to the boat and spent a lot of time taking the measurements even asking me to stand on the other side to balance his weight.
It fitted perfectly and with the snuffer, has been a joy to use but we only fly it, without a pole, in winds up to 10 knots. Easy to haul up, let fly and snuff away.
Click to expand...

And another vote for Sanders and the snuffler he supplied is made of slinky knit fabric so slides easily up and down, unlike the one we had made elsewhere in the world by a well known sail brand. The latter is made from heavy-ish ripstop nylon (spin fabric) and is a pain as it bunches up unexpectedly usually at the most inopportune moment.

S
 
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