Old sail, new UV strip?

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kalanka

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I have a rather heavy Kemp genoa on a 34 foot cruising boat, a good sail that is 6 years old and has done about 8000 miles including two rather stormy atlantic crossings. I am having some other repairs done by a local sailmaker but they say the UV strip is weak and needs replacing. I have no problem with this except for the amazing price of almost £300 for the UV strip replacement alone.

I find it hard to persuade myself that it is worth spending that on an old sail, particularly since it will be mainly used in Scotland and Northern Europe, not the UV intense Caribbean, and am wondering whether it would make sense to simply remove the old strip and operate (sin of sins) without a UV strip at all?

I'd welcome your views!
 
The price doesn’t sound that exceptional, if I recall the last time I had a UV strip replaced. I did wonder afterwards if an independent cover would be better value – though that’s perhaps not a convenient option for your usage.
 
If you consider £300 for someone to unpick the old uv strip measure up and cut and attach a new piece of material to your existing sail amazingly expensive I'm really interested in how much you think a reasonable amount would be? I think £300 would be a reasonable recompense for someone's skill, time and purchase of materials etc reasonable.

Regards
Donald

Edit: sorry just re read your post. Almost £300 my mistake:rolleyes:
 
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If I remember correctly, that's exactly what I paid, for both sails - but the main is in-mast furling and thus has only a very small triangle of UV cover, so probably didn't add much cost. The acrylic fabric isn't cheap (£18 per meter or so, depending on width and brand) and unpicking the old is all manual labour. As Onia suggested, you could easily do that part yourself and ask them how much it'll cost then. Or get a sewing machine and do the whole job yourself.
 
".....am wondering whether it would make sense to simply remove the old strip and operate (sin of sins) without a UV strip at all?"


I paid a similar amount to have mine done and came to the same conclusion - it is not worth it. Your sail will still last, maybe, another five years in the UK and you will be delighted to note it will set better into the bargain.
I had a genoa for about that time without UV protection and it was an old sail when I inherited it.
Having said this, I would still keep the old UV strip on till it get really tatty. For two reasons: because underneath there could be traces of unsightly glue and it is easy to damage the sailcloth using a seam ripper.

I have done my share of sewing work but would not advise tackling it with domestic facilities unless you were exceptionally motivated

Put the 300 quid in the new sail fund.
 
doug748 said:
".....am wondering whether it would make sense to simply remove the old strip and operate (sin of sins) without a UV strip at all?"


I paid a similar amount to have mine done and came to the same conclusion - it is not worth it. Your sail will still last, maybe, another five years in the UK and you will be delighted to note it will set better into the bargain.
I had a genoa for about that time without UV protection and it was an old sail when I inherited it.
Having said this, I would still keep the old UV strip on till it get really tatty. For two reasons: because underneath there could be traces of unsightly glue and it is easy to damage the sailcloth using a seam ripper.

I have done my share of sewing work but would not advise tackling it with domestic facilities unless you were exceptionally motivated

Put the 300 quid in the new sail fund.
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Good idea :encouragement:
 
I had the same dilemma this Summer.

A tattered UV strip on a reasonably good sail and I got much the same quote. I understand the sailmaker needs that much to make it worth his while but for an old sail it's not worth it for me.

So I stuck on sail repair strips and sewed them up on an old Singer machine, it looks good and sets well so if it lasts another Summer I'm happy.

Jim
 
On my old sail it was the uv strip stiching that went first, so just had it restiched.
When the strip finally went, my sail maker suggested using lightweight sailcloth as it would be cheap and last as long as the life the sail had in it.
I can't remember the cost as it was some years back.
 
I think I paid £180 to have mine renewed last winter (28' boat). I can't remember if that included v.a.t. but probably not.

Not having a UV strip might make sense for me in future because I dry-sail and the boat is only in the water for a total of around 4 months a year and I remove the sails when she's in her cradle.
 
That seems to be about the going rate. I just had mine done for £280 [ish]. [approx 300square feet]
The economics seem a bit marginal. This strip lasted 6 years. If I had removed it, presumably the sail would have fallen apart in a further 6 years?
12 years is not unreasonable for a big headsail I suppose?
 
DanTribe said:
That seems to be about the going rate. I just had mine done for £280 [ish]. [approx 300square feet]
The economics seem a bit marginal. This strip lasted 6 years. If I had removed it, presumably the sail would have fallen apart in a further 6 years?
12 years is not unreasonable for a big headsail I suppose?
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If I remember correctly, the woman who replaced mine said that if it's been done twice, and it needs doing again, it's probably time for a new sail .
 
Last time I had mine done the sailmaker itemised a £40 charge for removing the old strip. Hint, hint.
 
kalanka said:
.. I find it hard to persuade myself that it is worth spending that on an old sail, particularly since it will be mainly used in Scotland and Northern Europe, not the UV intense Caribbean, and am wondering whether it would make sense to simply remove the old strip and operate (sin of sins) without a UV strip at all?

I'd welcome your views!
Click to expand...

Remember that in Scotland there can be (and often is) over 17 hours sunlight daily in summer.
My UV strip started shredding after about a decade and I replaced it myself using acrylic canvas. I can't remember the cost, but £300 doesn't seem too bad if you don't have the time/inclination/skill/tools to do it yourself.
You could shop around, but I would expect the carriage charges for a sail of that size to be prohibitive.
 
I have always changed the UV strips myself over the last thirty years or so, for two reasons: (1) I have an industrial sewing machine and (2) I like to do things myself. My only costs were for the Sunbrella (which isn't exactly cheap) and the thread.
I did not cost my time but there's no way that I would do it for someone else's 35 m2 Genoa for £300.
 
put the cost towards a new sail, better cloth, likely better performance too as opposed to just seeing a bright new colour up front, hiding a piece of shapeless rag. jusr because the original sail is still in one piece does not make it 'good' .
 
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