Which sailcloth?

[TiggerToo]

Apologies for re-posting (sort of) but I am surprised I did not get more feedback before: a few of us seemed to be interetsted in the same question though!

So here goes: has anyone got any experience of using Marblehead Dacron for a cruising Genoa? Have you observed any "crazing" on this material?

 

[Koeketiene]

When we replaced the sails on our previous boat - we were strongly (!!) advised by several parties not to opt for a dacron genoa.

In the end we settled for a dacron main and a laminate genoa.

 

[TiggerToo]

do you mean you regret the choice of Dacron for teh Genoa? What sort of Dacron did you get?

 

[Koeketiene]

We got the laminate (mylar) genoa

 

[oldsaltoz]

http://macksails.com/sailclth.htm

 

[RJD393]

I suspect that the term 'Marblehead' is used by individual sailmakers. There is nothing wrong in using Dacron for a Genoa it all depends on the quality of the material and how it is put together. IMHO it is a waste of money to go for radial cut in Dacron - it works well enough in cross cut - just speak to the 'big' names. I have had both cross cut Dacron and radial cut laminate recently for new genoas. The laminate has a very good shape which it should hold but may not last as long as a good dacron. It comes down to what you want to use it for and how much you want to spend. Get samples from the various sailmakers and compare the material - it is often easy to see differences.