Storage of sausage baged headsails - ideas?

[savageseadog]

We race and have three or four headsails bagged up at anyone time, each worth around £3500 each. It frustrates me to death that they lie down below, it keeps the boat damp, it marks the floor and cherry woodwork. And the crew walk all over them. There is no storage at the marina...

We can put one / maybe two along the boom with the main and cover them - but does anyone have any genius ideas? They are all blade sails, in carbon based films so you need to avoid walking / folding them awkwardly... I thought about having them lay on the fordeck under a canvas tent but my experience of such things is that they blow away the first good blow! Plus the sails don't like to sit in puddles of water for any length of time as it can penetrate into the laminate.

Sails can be folded or rolled But as they are blades (non overlapping) with batterns they are aroud 5.5meters in the foot.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I strap mine to the deck. Never blown away. Rain doesn't pool. No different from a mainsail under a cover. Mine are carbon film as well. Don't seem to have suffered. The bag needs to be well strapped to avoid wear from fluttering in a wind. I asked the sailmaker to put multiple attachment points along the length for just this porpoise.

 

[saltylegs]

Good strong bags with lots of attachment point and you could attach them to the guard wires.
I have also hoisted a couple partially up the front of the mast but generally just overnight it also helps to dry the sails.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

It frustrates me to death that they lie down below...

Think laterally. Change you boat for a trimaran. All the space you need then to store sails in the floats.

 

[Daydream believer]

Makes one understand why some boats have shore support vans.
What sort of car have you got? can you get a trailer made to stick them in along with any other tot that you might want to store off the boat. Can you lock the trailer & leave it at the marina?
Do you have space at home to park a trailer.
Does not have to be high or wide, Can get one made long & narrow if you want. Can also get tools & spares in the trailer. Only needs to be .75 tonne gross weight inc sails & gear
Look around for something You might get one for £1500-00 which for a trailer is not so high compared to sail costs & when you realise how useful it would be & how long it would last. Ours is 20 years old & we keep all our dinghy gear & sailboards in it. It has a rack on top for longer items such as masts
4ft wide, 3ft high & 8 ft long would do if you can fold the 5.5 metre sail in half

 

[Birdseye]

dont have fancy laminates ( unfortunately) but with the spinnies I have given up. Into the boot of the car and home to dry out in the garage and be re-packed on the lounge floor.

leaving damp sails down below does no good to the boat interior .

Could you roll them tight enough to slide within a length of plastic drainpipe which is then easy to fasten to guard rails? Or simply have a mesh bag made again to attach to guard rails.

 

[William_H]

Stowage of rolled jibs

Only other option if you want to keep them on board is to hoist them up to the ceiling (deck head) in the fore cabin area. Of course there may not be room but just a thought. Hoist them using 2 small tackles or perhaps webbing strap. good luck olewill

 

[pagoda]

dont have fancy laminates ( unfortunately) but with the spinnies I have given up. Into the boot of the car and home to dry out in the garage and be re-packed on the lounge floor.

leaving damp sails down below does no good to the boat interior .

Could you roll them tight enough to slide within a length of plastic drainpipe which is then easy to fasten to guard rails? Or simply have a mesh bag made again to attach to guard rails.

Our sails are taffeta laminate, not as crinkly as race sails, fortunately!. The gennaker lives in a bag, forepeak, the other sails when they come off are no longer bricked, but rolled and stored as loosely as we can in a back bedroom at home. SWMBO is not greatly impressed, but I would rather the sails were not folded any more than enough to be able to handle/ transport them. We have some full laminate dinghy and windsurf sails. They live rolled up out of harm's way.