Sailcloth advice wanted

Norman_E

Norman_E

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I need to have a new mainsail made for a Jeanneau 45.2. The existing sail is fully battened, loose footed in cross cut Dacron. It still holds reasonable shape due to the battens, but the luff is pretty frayed and the dacron has splits in it due to UV degradation.

The question is should I buy a replacement in Dacron or cruising laminate? My sail-maker in Turkey has quoted me for a crosscut sail in 8.4 ounce Contender Supercruise (Dacron) and a tri-radial cut sail in Contender ACL Astro Laminate 75-90 weight. Either will re-use my existing battens.

The latter is the same cloth as my new Genoa from the same sail loft, but is 60% more expensive, so I am unsure if it is worth the extra money.

In the past I have had conflicting advice about sail cloths, with some saying that a tri-radial mainsail offers little advantage on a cruising yacht as the battens will hold good shape on the cross cut Dacron sail, and that the performance gain from laminate is worth the extra cost for a genoa, but not so for a mainsail. I have also had varying advice as to the relative longevity of both types.

What does the panel think? the quoted sail area is 39.4 sq metres, should I go for heavier cloth if I have Dacron, or is 8.4 ounce as recommended, correct?
 
Yes the laminate main will be a better sail.
No a laminate mainsail does not make the transformation of performance that a laminate Genoa does.
The main difference in initial performance is the ability to flatten more, so that full sail can be held slightly further up the wind range. However the key advantage is that the shape will be held for much longer, until the sail fails slightly more dramatically, as against what you'e currently witnessing the gradual deteriation to a point where it isn't up to much. So a higher performance for longer, but a shorter total life.

As to whether it'sorth the extra 60% cash, only you know whether you can afford it.
 
Have you considered this ?
had a r/r genoa made from this last year in Portugal and have been very impressed with the result.
I believe it gets a mention somewhere in this month's PBO as a heavy duty alternative to conventional dacron or cruising lamunate
 
We have both FB loose footed main and RR genoa in triradial construction but using Hydranet from Dimension Polyant (see link from Jaybee's post). Hydranet is Dacron with a woven in mesh of Spectra/Dyneema so the sail is much tougher and stretch kept to a minimum, it is not as stretch resistant as a full plastic laminate but it will outlast it by many years whilst keeping it's shape still well. Hydranet doesn't get mildew between the film and the taffeta either which gets unsightly in laminate sails.

Our sails were superbly made by Crusader in Poole and were more expensive of course than standard ones even to cruiser/racer spec but not anywhere near 60% extra, from memory around 30% over a high quality plain Dacron. When we bought ours I was told the sail loadings on our boat would be such that a standard Dacron would stretch out of shape in a few years and whilst the laminate ones would hold their shape well they would one day just 'go' and last nothing like as long as the Dacron ones. That was a few years ago so newer laminates are around, but our sails are as good as when new and I would go for Hydranet again if they ever wear out or lose their shape. Hydranet isn't as sexy see through as laminates on race boats but then it is far more tolerant of abuse just like Dacron.
 
On the first day the sails are fitted to the boat it should make no difference whether it is dacron or laminate. From that point on the dacron will stretch more than the laminate and will fall steadily behind in performance. The laminate sail will be more susceptible to damage and generally degrade faster. This is reduced somewhat by adding taffeta on the outside but then the appearance is affected.
The are other issues to consider other than material. Choosing a loose-footed main (i.e. not fastened to the boom except at the clew will allow easy adjustment which will give benefits on all points of sail. Also, standard Jeanneau main sails have very little roach. Increasing the roach will give more drive from the main and less reliance on the genoa.
 
Thanks to everyone for the advice. I am not sure if I can get Hydranet sails made in Turkey, but will ask, as it seems to be the best compromise between cost and performance.

Adding a little roach would be a good idea, the present sail is straight cut.

I will phone the sailmakers today and see what they can do.
 
You might also want to look at Hoods Vektron fabric-similar idea to Hydranet-vectran woven into quality dacron to give you the benefits of dacron and the benefits of laminate-at least thats the idea! Not seen any negative reports-have a look a the Hood and Saunder sailmakers site for some further info on the cloth
 
I had a new main and genoa made of Hydranet this year by Owen Sails in Oban.

I chose hydranet because is is a good compromise between the stiffness of a laminate, but the handling and wear characteristics of dacron.
Full length battens, a decent sized roach, three reefs, loose foot, leech line running over the head of the sail so that it is adjusted from the tack area of the mainsail, plenty of telltales and 2 camber stripes, tri radial cut: Very pleased with the results.
Genoa is made of the same stuff and again, very pleased with the results.

If in Turkey, you should be able to get a vat free price for export and by the time you reach Greek waters, it will be a used sail for import and no vat to pay.
Try Quantum Sails in Athens who may be able to do you an export sail that you pick up in Turkey.
North are also reliable
Tel.: (+90)-212696-9915
Fax: (+90)-212696-9919

Manager: Kemal Aksuyek
E-Mail: kemal@tr.northsails.com

Cheap sails = false economy but from the posts, it sounds like you understand this.
 
I looked into buying a Hydranet sail, which is available from Elvstrom Sails in Marmaris, but in Turkey the cost is about 1.6 times that of the ACL cruising laminate or 2.5 times that of dacron. Elvstrom were formerly Moby sails, and I bought my laminate genoa from them. As the ACL cruising laminate genoa has proved to be a good sail over the one and a half seasons I have had it, I think I will go with the same material for the mainsailt, though I intend having a further telephone discussion with the sailmaker before finally making up my mind.

Meantime I will be looking at sails as well as other goodies at the show on Saturday.
 
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