When is it worth getting new sails?

[Fantasie 19]

I think I know why my Osprey's sails are so ancient...

...a new mainsail is at minimum £699.

That's double what I paid for the whole boat. I wonder to what extent the performance of a boat that cheap can be rejuvenated by a sail that expensive?

At the very-low-budget end of sailing, this is a monumental outlay.

...but to be fair that's because our second hand boats are stupidly cheap and beyond fully depreciated.... and yes, I thought the same way when I bought a second hand new'ish 4 stroke for 75% of the cost of the boat, and a new handheld GPS for 10% of the cost of the boat, and etc etc... we're never going to make the money back, but if you're going to keep the boat for a time you will in terms of increased pleasure.... I take the 10 year view... a 600 quid sail is only going to cost me 60 quid a year, which is a far more manageable number....

 

[lw395]

A new mainsail for my dinghy is over £600.
We do OK in club racing with one I got secondhand for £100, and I've had probably 100 races out of it.
Unfortunately small cruisers are not like that. much less good secondhand stuff around.

 

[Greenheart]

...our second hand boats are stupidly cheap...I take the 10 year view...a 600 quid sail is only going to cost me 60 quid a year...

You're right Steve, the value of a boat like mine isn't even 5% of its new equivalent; but I didn't buy her because I love a bargain, I bought her because I didn't have the cash for a newer or bigger one, and while sub-£500 for a rather lovely old racer seemed fine value, it was also scraping at my ceiling. And today, finding substantially more money than that just for a sail, is prohibitive...

...but, as you say, the cost can be seen as spreadable over the period of the new sail's use, provided its superiority over my present set of old flour-sacks will endure until I've forgotten the pain of paying for it.

I'll certainly keep an eye on the little-used racers' cast-offs.

Does she feel somewhat overpowered and hard to tame in strong winds? She'll feel controllable again.

Now, we're talking...my boat's a celebrated, seaworthy and well-balanced design but in singlehanding mode, she feels somewhat overpowered in any wind over ten knots; so if a new sail will make the power easier to tame, I'm in.

I happen to know a very good local sailmaker. I wonder if he'd be able to re-cut a 2nd hand, fairly new mainsail, to suit me being laughably underweight for my boat? So far, (albeit with the old sails) I've never managed to apply the controls to flatten the main enough for sustained beating in a force 3.

 

[Daydream believer]

Daydream Believer, why did you delete your post? If I had £4k to spend on new sails after only six seasons, I daresay I'd do so - your readiness to, indicates that the benefit is worth paying for. :encouragement:

Dan
Having typed it i realised it was not appropriate to a thread generally about obtaining budget sails. I have a "thing" about good sails & to some that would just seem a wasteful excess. But it is my hobby so i indulge myself.
But having good sails is only part of the issue. One has to set them & use them correctly as they can be ruined quite quickly. For instance, setting the halliard & leaving it set all season is a typical one

 

[ronsurf]

If a £700 sail is twice what you paid for the boat, then you would be increasing the value of your boat by at least 25% and getting a more pleasurable sail as well. Added that it will probably make your boat look a bit smarter as well, commanding greater respect when mooring up at a posh marina.

 

[Greenheart]

...having good sails is only part of the issue. One has to set them & use them correctly as they can be ruined quite quickly...

Hmm, thanks D.B...the prospect of inadvertently ruining them (or reducing them to the condition of my oldies) is as good a reason as any, for me not to splash out on new sails!

Not that I'm blithely insensitive to the necessity to change the tensions of sail controls...but I don't always have a hand spare to make the adjustment when the need arises.

Plus, I just don't know enough about how best to tune the sail, so I'm happier experimenting with relatively disposable old kit, than with expensive new cloth.

I'll still look out for a good secondhand suit of sails, given an appropriate cost reduction.

 

[Alfie168]

Thanks for all the helpful responses over the last couple of days.

I really would like to get a new mail, but when I hear of people sailing with 25+ year old sails I start to worry that I'm the one not getting the performance out of the sail! I've been quoted £400 for a non-fancy replacement, and I'm starting to think I should just go for it and hopefully get a nice surprise in increased performance.

I'd strongly advise that you do not go for the cheapest sail cloth option without checking its track record in terms of stretch/shape keeping. Some of the really cheap stuff is awful and will crease and stretch before you know it and you will be back to square one in a few seasons. I'm no expert on sail cloths except to the extent I have experienced some dreadful quality sails on newish boats that made them sail like sheds and looked very shabby into the bargain. You will soon forget any price difference, and a quality sail is a thing of beauty and performance, plus your pride in it will be reflected in your attitude to your own sailing.

Good luck!

Tim