Sailmaker advice please

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WayneS

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Can anyone advise me of a good sailmaker who is reasonably priced

I have just spent 30 min calling around some sailmakers and only got about 10% of the way through and thought.....there must be a better way to do this.

I want to buy a new RR Genoa for my boat but do not want to spend a load of cash. I'm getting estimates between £480 (Arun) and £960 (Banks).

I've heard that buying in the far east may be an option. True????


You guys must have experience in this.
 
Hi Wayne

I finally got to give my new sails a good work out this weekend and was well impressed.

I used Arun in Bosham, really good to deal with and good value for money I reckon.

Arun do the sails for Vancouver yachts so must be pretty good. I think I paid around £1,100 for new main and genoa.

Their web site is http://www.sailmakers.com - I dealt mainly with Ivan who seems a very good chap.



Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk
 
Have just been to France on a Moody 29 with a new Kemp R/R genoa and main and was very impressed with the cut and quality. The sails set well when we had three reefs in the main and over half the genny rolled.

Have heard that Hong Kong sails are also worth looking at.

Keith
 
just realised I didn't read your post properly - I now see you've already contacted Arun.

I would not buy from the Far East - it's good to be able to talk to the sail maker and also if things aren't quite right once they're fitted then you can go back to them. I can't imagine you'll get much of a responce from Honk Kong if the sails don't come up to your expectations.

Again, I was very pleased with Arun.


Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk
 
Try Jeckells in Wroxham - they may be a distance away but they are often on the South Coast and will measure up and personalise to whatever you want with no fuss and very polite service. Prices also excellent.

I have sails, cruising chute, stack pack etc from them and am well pleased.
 
I was really impressed with my new main and rr genoa from Aruns.

They set well, look good and were very competitive on price.

Also most importantly,they actually delivered on time.(Unlike another well known firm I used some years ago).
 
I've found Crusader to be about the cheapest, but you get what you pay for - wouldn't recommend them

Out of interest, I had a quote from the Hong Kong folk recently - no cheaper than the general run of UK sailmakers, and a completely unknown quantity as regards quality.

My recommendation would be Owen Sails - I recently bought a main from them - excellent service, excellent sail, and very reasonably priced.
 
Funnily enough, same thing happened to me! I did get a quote eventually, but it was just a scrappy bit of paper, they were not interested in anything that wasn't standard and in their computer.
 
You mention Arun. They have alway given me good service and well priced and fast.
I need a new genoa for a race on the Saturday. I ordered on the Tuesday afternoon, pick it up Friday evening. And they do good 'deals'
 
I have just bought from Owen sails and as another reply said excellent service and sail(roller genoa)but you get what you pay for,from basics to high tech the choice is yours.
 
Whe I had a 19 footer I had excellent service from Richard Franks at Hyde sails. He insisted on coming down to the boat because he had never made a sail for a Fantasie 19 before. They were excellent. Now I have a 33 footer with superb sails--five years old and still in very good condition, from Parker and Kay.

L.A.R.Ferguson
 
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