Value of an old sail?

[prv]

New sails for the new boat should be turning up in a few weeks. We decided to replace the existing ones as they looked a bit tired, we had got a useful discount off the asking price which paid for it, and there was a general mood of sorting the new boat out to get the best out of it from the beginning. But there's probably still some use in the old sails, and maybe at the right price they would be a useful upgrade to someone with even older ones.

Trouble is I have absolutely no idea what the right price would be. There is a fully-battened main (with battens and wheeled cars) and roller genoa for a fractional-rigged 34 footer. There's no obvious damage, though I haven't checked carefully all over. The main problem is that I have no idea how old they are, and since we haven't really sailed with them I can't give much of a judgement on how much of their shape they still hold. Ideally I'll roll them out and take some photos before putting up for sale, but even that is tricky as I think the main might be longer than my garden

I guess one answer would be to put them on eBay and see what they make, but I'd rather sell them to a forumite via the for-sale forum, and that requires an up-front price. So, any ball-park suggestions?

Cheers,

Pete

 

[alahol2]

You could get a very rough idea of the going rate here... http://www.seateach.com/Sails.htm

 

[prv]

That's very useful, thanks.

Pete

 

[nimbusgb]

I got 150 for a 25 year old genoa off a 38' boat. 225 off a 15 year old one and 100 and 125 off similar aged mains.
Amazing what ebay will do! The younger sails went to an eastern european bloke. The older ones to a bloke making a set of covers for his boat.

 

[michael_w]

If you can take picures of them set and sailing you'll probably get a better chance of a sale. Pictures of white triangles on a lawn don't mean much! Also don't forget to give the Length Perpendicular for headsails (right angles from the luff to the clew).

 

[Simondjuk]

I'm afraid I can't tell you what they're worth, but can tell you that when we purchased our current 38 foot boat we received a letter from the former owner transferring ownership of the boat's original sails to us. These were being held by a sail brokerage and offered for sale at £500 each. The genoa would have seen about 9 years use when replaced and the main about 12 years (replaced 2008 and 2011 respectively on a 1999 boat). According to a letter in the boat's paperwork file, they had been on with the brokerage for over a year, presumably with no interest since they came to us.

I might collect them from the brokerage, inspect them carefully, bend them on and fill them so I can describe how they set reasonably well, and place them up for sale myself.

On the one hand, I feel that £1000 for a suit of sails which are presumably well past their best, otherwise why would they have been replaced, is a bit optimistic. On the other hand, if someone has some truly blown out rags, can't really run to a new set, and wants a couple of years of reasonable service, I can see that spending £1000 rather than several £1000s might make sense. So, I guess it all depends on the value they have to anyone at any given time, which could range form nothing to quite a lot.

Actually, all that said, I just went to the website of the sail broker in question and tried to download their used sail list. All I got was a 404 page not found error, which makes it pretty hard for anyone to buy my sails I guess.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I got £150 for a hank on genoa for a 28 footer well used but serviceable and £120 for an unused storm jib. The former private sale latter ebay.

 

[prv]

If you can take picures of them set and sailing you'll probably get a better chance of a sale. Pictures of white triangles on a lawn don't mean much! Also don't forget to give the Length Perpendicular for headsails (right angles from the luff to the clew).

Ta for the perpendicular measurement; never heard of that.

Unlikely to get any pics of them set; the boat is currently laid up afloat (working on the engine as well as lots of other stuff, so definitely not going anywhere) and when the new sails arrive I think we'll be bending them straight on, and then going for a sail as soon as the boat's capable of it. The old ones are already off the boat.

Pete

 

[Blueboatman]

In my class association people sometimes offer their old sails as spares to those heading off on some big trip, which is very helpful. RNLI or beer tokens/ wine cases as you would wish..

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Saturn Sails have a second-hand sails section on their web-site (http://www.secondhandsails.co.uk/index.shtml). I've sold sails through them; for a very tired mainsail for a Moody 31 I got a few hundred pounds. It sold slowly; took nearly a year to sell.

I think that in general, sails don't sell quickly, except for things like cruising chutes. Unles I knew someone who needed a sail similar to the one I had, I'd say that the hassle of trying to sell it myself would far outweigh the convenience of using an agent like Saturn or Seateach. If you sell through them, you just give them the sail, and they do the rest - the next thing is that you get a cheque when it sells! And from the POV of a buyer, they have an objective view of the condition of the sail, and immediate access to someone who can do minor repairs or alterations. Yes, you can probably do a better job of describing the sail if you go to some trouble - but you are selling it; people will take your description with a pinch of salt!

 

[prv]

I think that in general, sails don't sell quickly, except for things like cruising chutes. Unles I knew someone who needed a sail similar to the one I had, I'd say that the hassle of trying to sell it myself would far outweigh the convenience of using an agent like Saturn or Seateach.

It's a good point - I don't really have anywhere to keep them, so sending them off to an agent against one day receiving a cheque has its attractions. Seems a bit daft to send them all the way up to Largs, though, so hopefully Seateach will take them. They don't have any info about it on their site - will have to ring them when I get a moment.

Pete

 

[prv]

Emailed Seateach, and have just had a reply. They buy and sell their second hand sails, they're not acting as brokers. So they only buy what they think they can sell. They want me to drop the sails off with them to be inspected at their leisure, then they will get back to me with either a price or a request to come and take my mangy old rags away again

I think that's the way I'm going to go - thanks for the suggestion.

Pete

 

[rob2]

For me the value of old sails is being able to rig them as sunshades (you rememer the sun?). In extremis they can also be pressed back into service should the unthinkable happen to your nice new ones.

Rob.

 

[prv]

For me the value of old sails is being able to rig them as sunshades (you rememer the sun?). In extremis they can also be pressed back into service should the unthinkable happen to your nice new ones.

Sails don't make particularly good awnings, though, as their three-dimensional shape prevents you drawing them tight. There will always be a sag in the middle. If I did need a load of sailcloth for some reason - well, I still have some smaller spare sails from the old boat . I find they're less useful for this than one might imagine, as they always have seams running just where you don't need them. I'm certainly not going to store a huge bundle of sail just for this reason, I have little enough space as it is. If I couldn't sell them, I'd cut off any useful hardware (stainless tack rings and the like) and send the fabric to that company that makes bags and stuff out of old sails. They don't pay for them, but they'd collect it without any effort on my part and I think you get a free bag.

Spare sails certainly make sense for serious voyaging - but for coastal cruising I'm not going to devote the space to carry them on board. Sail repair tape, a bit of cloth for patches (from those existing old sails), and a needle and palm will do for smallish repairs. If I get home with damaged sails, I'll live with waiting till they're repaired rather than dragging out the old ones. If nothing else, the only place in my house I can fit the battens is along the skirting board in the living room, which is not a long-term solution.

Pete

 

[Grumpybear]

If you want to sell your soul to the devil, Quba sails (the jacket people) in Kingsbridge sometimes buy old sails as raw material for their products.

 

[prv]

If you want to sell your soul to the devil, Quba sails (the jacket people) in Kingsbridge sometimes buy old sails as raw material for their products.

I doubt my sails are poncey enough for them . Surely Josh and Henry with the bleached hair and sunglasses will only buy jackets made of racing laminate?

Pete

 

[PhillM]

I have borght from these people and also through the forum:

http://www.exchangesails.co.uk

Oh and also from a couple of sail makers.

Storm jib unused, £150

Perfect 2nd user working jib £250 and £175 for one in ok condition.

But in contrast a new Genoa was £600 and a new main £1k.

 

[Grumpybear]

I doubt my sails are poncey enough for them . Surely Josh and Henry with the bleached hair and sunglasses will only buy jackets made of racing laminate?

Pete

Not at all. Those types would much rather pose in fore top gallant sky sail jackets rescued from the Cutty Sark after her last trip round Cape Horn.

And, don't ask me how I know, but their jackets are very warm and wind proof, even if you lack the balls to wear them in daylight...