Sail Numbers, experience with stick ons etc??

castaway

castaway

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Having just sorted out a sail number for my Halberdier, I now need to buy and fix.

Anyone got any experience with this...prob straight forward but you never know !! Are sticky numbers okay? I need 16 of 'em (GBR1413L) twice so cheaper the better..

BTW thanks to those who steered me towards the RYA for help geting a number..very quick, easy and efficient.

Many thanks, Nick
 
Sticky numbers easy to apply and work very well. We've used them on many boats, and even on plasticy laminated dinghy sails they stick very well.

Find a local sailmaker and ask them - they will be cheaper than a chandler in most cases.

You need to get the sail on a nice flat surface and mark where the edges of the numbers fall with a pencil or fine marker pen before you start to make sure you get them level - otherwise they look a right mess when applied. Also, you need to start at one edge and stick the edge down, then gradually peel the backing off and rub down (trying to do it any other way usually results in creases which cannot be removed) - try getting a spare one and practising on some spare material (again a sailmaker will give you an offcut FOC) or a sail bag etc first.

Jonny
 
Don't forget to put the starboard ones higher than those on port. Don't try and place them back-to-back; they'll be illegible in the sun.
 
Took some finding, but these are the requirements you need to adhere to:

G1.2 Specifications
(a) National letters and sail numbers shall be in capital letters and
Arabic numerals, clearly legible and of the same colour. Commercially
available typefaces giving the same or better legibility
than Helvetica are acceptable.
(b) The height of characters and space between adjoining characters
on the same and opposite sides of the sail shall be related to
the boat’s overall length as follows:
Overall Minimum Minimum space
length height between characters and
from edge of sail
under 3.5 m 230 mm 45 mm
3.5 m–8.5 m 300 mm 60 mm
8.5 m–11 m 375 mm 75 mm
over 11 m 450 mm 90 mm
G1.3 Positioning
Class insignia, national letters and sail numbers shall be positioned as
follows:
(a) Except as provided in rules G1.3(d) and G1.3(e), class insignia,
national letters and sail numbers shall when possible be wholly
above an arc whose centre is the head point and whose radius is
60% of the leech length. They shall be placed at different heights
on the two sides of the sail, those on the starboard side being
uppermost.
Appendix G IDENTIFICATION ON SAILS G1.2
101
(b) The class insignia shall be placed above the national letters. If
the class insignia is of such a design that two of them coincide
when placed back to back on both sides of the sail, they may be
so placed.
(c) National letters shall be placed above the sail number.
(d) The national letters and sail number shall be displayed on the
front side of a spinnaker but may be placed on both sides. They
shall be displayed wholly below an arc whose centre is the head
point and whose radius is 40% of the foot median and, when
possible, wholly above an arc whose radius is 60% of the foot
median.
(e) The national letters and sail number shall be displayed on both
sides of a headsail whose clew can extend behind the mast 30%
or more of the mainsail foot length. They shall be displayed
wholly below an arc whose centre is the head point and whose
radius is half the luff length and, if possible, wholly above an arc
whose radius is 75% of the luff length.

From RRS 77 (Appendix G) www.sailing.org (ISAF)

Jonny
 
Only one seaason so far, but sticking well! They're certainly not cheap wherever you get them, but sailmakers seem the best bet (got mine from Sobstad).
Fitting as per above was accomplished with the sail flat on the clubhouse floor using an upturned table as a straight edge and a beer mat for spacing! Surprisingly acceptable results, possibly helped by the fact that we hadn't previously used the beer mat. Certainly better than my attempts to arrange letters radially on a horseshoe lifebuoy - in only four letters I have a distinctly lazy "J". I find it quite appealing, but wouldn't if it were amongst the sail number. It's visible for such a distance up there!
 
I found marking little boxes in pencil for each letter worked well, you can then line the edge of the letter / number up with the box when putting it on to make sure it is in the right place.

The style of letter / number can help this. Some people have squared font characters which are easier to work with as they have straight edges, the rounded font characters can be harder to apply for certain numbers, 3's for example, as they don't have a straight edge to apply first to get them straight.

Definately a job in a clubhouse etc rather than with the sail on the boat! Easiest would be to take your sail to the loft and ask the sailmaker who supplies the numbers to stick them on, wouldn't imagine he would charge much as would only take 20 mins or so.

Jonny
 
bought ours from Kyrospruce. worked out about £2 per digit / Letter delivered. sticking on is easy no probs. But did buy a decorators roller about 1" width to roll over after helped get any bubble's out and insured it stuck all over.
 
Wouldn't want to put you down, but...

With several kids going trough dinghy stages, the sail numbers has always been my pet hate. Specially on Optimists as the class is really anal about their placement.

I have never had any sticky numbers come off, but you need to have help at hand to get them down nice without creases and bubbles. Draw a line with pencil and work from that. If you race your boat you might want to check if there is any class rule you have to follow.

Take it slow, they are a pain in the ... to get off again.
 
many thanks to all for input re sail nos... Aidy I couldn't open the link, any chance at another try please.

2 quids per number doesn't sound bad..I have just recvd a confirmation letter from the RYA with details of size spacing etc.

Good thing is I don't have to use the GBR bit unless I'm an International Class..so that saves me 12quid!

All best

Nick
 
Nick,

Re: Aidy's link to Kayospruce. You will find them at www.sailcloth.co.uk . They're just off the Segensworth roundabout nr junction 9 of the M27. Drop me a PM if you need someone to pick the numbers up - I work a mile or so away - and I'll either hand them to you in the yard or leave them in Fairweather's cockpit. Alternatively, try Mark Flew - we got some from him a couple of years ago.
 
Make sure that you get good adhesion when posiitoning them I found on my furling main on passage when one of mine detached mid furl and jammed requiring a painful journey up the mast on bosuns chair to free up.
 
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