tear in leech of mainsail

[thomashoebus]

Yesterday i had a tear of 10 cm in the leech of the mainsail. According to te sailmaker the cloth up to 7-8 cm from the leech was rotten. Anyway he could repair it to finish this season (and i'm leaving on holliday in 3 weeks also). A new sail should be made in the winter. I'm leaving for 5 weeks to bordeaux with the boat. The sail is an in mast furler. Has anybody some advice or experience with this problem and repair. He will glue and stitch a band over the leech. Will it last and will te sail still be setting fine? I have only one main. Perhaps i should take a repair kit with me /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Norman_E]

If your sailmaker says he can repair it to last the season, then I would accept his word. If the sailcloth is in poor shape, then I doubt it will set any worse after repair than it did before. Your main problem is that you have no spare sail if it does tear again.
Regardless of whether you have a spare, or the state of your sails, I think you should always carry a repair kit including adhesive sail repair tape, needles and thread, and a sailmakers palm. With such a kit you should be able to patch a small tear before it becomes a big one.

 

[William_H]

The leach has probably deteriated through being exposed to the sun.
So presumably it is near the bottom that it has failed. The sail leach takes the full force of the main sheet and vang pulling the boom down.
I imagine a repair will be OK but if it fails in one place it will likely fail in another. If this is the case a repair involving cutting the whole leach off and making the sail smaller might be more reliable. Or he could double up the patch in the whiole area exposed to the sun when furled.
But then your sail maker should know all this. So good luck wit the voyage. olewill

 

[Talbot]

reef earlier for the rest of this year.

 

[Norman_E]

I agree with your analysis. It always seems odd to me that whilst a lot of in mast sails have UV protection on the piece that is left sticking out, but quite a few do not. (asking for trouble IMHO)
I am taking the view that the sailmaker should know his business and be able to make an acceptable repair.
My main point is that I think every cruising yachtsman should carry a sail repair kit.