What sail repir kit do you have

[tudorsailor]

On my last trip, the sacrificial strip on my Yankee tore on the end of the spreader. I did temporary repair with some "spinnaker repair tape" which was all the Mallorcan chandlery had to do an emergency repair. I did the trick for the remaining few days. Now I realise that I need to keep a sail repair kit on board. Should I get a pre-packed kit - which seems very expensive? If not what is the minimum, that I need for emergency repairs?

Thanks

TudorSailor

 

[Searush]

Palm & needles, thread & a few bits of old sail.

Actually, I now have a spare suit of old sails too thanks to a fellow forumite.

 

[Skyva_2]

Most of the stuff in that kit looks relevant, but I would think you could pick it up for less than £50, maybe less, by talking to your local sailmaker.

You probably already have scissors, sharp knife, needles, waxed thread etc. Its also useful for whipping ropes.

 

[Adamastor]

I usually have spare patches of whatever the cloth is that the rags are made of- 11oz Norlam or whatever, some leftovers from the spi to match, as well as some Bostik Clear glue, Contact adhesive, and some twinstick sailmaking tape for holding patches together- the glue is to finish the back off. [Bear in mind my sailmakers HATE my repairs because they usually have to undo and repair properly- not just patch!]
The other thing is webbing to suit the mainsail slides, a foot or so of seatbelt webbing, a big tube of superglue which keeps raggedy bits like luffrope covering from coming unstuck, some McLube, a carpenter's pencil, a crayon, and some french chalk from a bike kit. And also vital is a cigar-lighter/pocket blowtorch/windmill lighter and about 3 Bics. I also have an indeterminately-sized wad-punch- possibly 1/2" and, bizarrely enough, a number of matching brass cringles and setts for same, as well as a few sail-hanks, and a few of those plastic shackley-type-thingummies that hold the mainsail-slides on on some sails.
Numero Uno tool of choice, though, is my trusty Speedy Stitcher , which 10 years ago got loaded with round whipping twine. No product endorsement meant, but it's the best thing to happen since having Clyde the Sailmaker's number on my cellphone!
Whole setup? R150 for the Speedystitch, R120 for the McLube and about another 100 for the assorted glues, tape etc. The rest is scrounged and snaffled from offcut bins etc. In real money- make that about 40 Yankee-dorrahs/30 Squids for the lot!

 

[theotter]

What a coincidence....10 mins before reading your post I clicked the mouse to order a stiching gismo form Stitchitawl of Australia. Know nothing about it or how effective it is but it looks kind of neat! Fingers crossed.

 

[mixmaster]

Just went throught the process myself.
We have spinnaker and heavier sail repair tape, large section of old mainsail, palm, needles and thread as well as some bits from the mainsail batten car system.

 

[charles_reed]

4m2 white sticky Dacron. 2 m2 of assorted black, red and blue sticky Dacron
3m2 of 6 ozUS Dacron

34 assorted needles
2 sailmakers' palms
2x100m nylon thread
9m of 5 different widths tape
4 rolls of assorted colours spinnaker repair tape
6 x #1 & 2 waxed whipping twine in 4 colours
1 kit cringle press + 12 x 2 part cringles
10 Bainbridge Oilite slides
2 x Bainbridge batten cars
5 x tensioning screws for for Aquabatten cars
Black 1.5oz spinnaker material for telltales (0.5m2)
8 screw shackles for Oilite slides.

Spare main + 4 battens and Rutgerson cars+ 3 spare Rutgerson wedges.
Spare 140% roller reefing genoa (apart from solent, working jib, storm jib, genniker and 2 spinnakers)
Spare 12mm Dyneema Main Halyard
Fid and parcelling mallet (for making up mooring lines)
electricians' braid for passing halyards through jammers
4 Spinlock clutches, replaced by Lewmar
3 x mast-base pulleys.
HDPE sticky tape for wear patches.
Mylar self adhesive tape
PTFE plate 0.5mm thick 0.4m2
4 x Clamcleats

 

[DinghyMan]

They really went to town with the discount - 1p off of £170 that should really make people rush to buy.....

Does seem very expensive and you could make up your own better kit for cheaper.

 

[Refueler]

Pack of various sized sail-needles.
Pack of normal sewing needles
Spinnaker repair tape clear and blue
Sailmakers palm
Rectractable disposable stanley style knife
Braid splicing pullers
Swedish hollow fid
Conventional spike
Few odd scraps of UV material and white light sail cloth
Light thread in blue
Medium waxed sail thread
Odd thimbles and bits ... all in a large Baby Milk screw top container ... and real emergency stuff in an ice cream box.

Tip : For whippings / emergency tie-offs ..... ships trick is to take old stranded rope and break it down to lengths of the strands .... that way you can have heavy weight ( ie 3 stranded taken down to the individual 3 strands ) or lighter by taking even those down further.