Conference unifix::sailing

    A good book is Sail Power, by Wallace Ross.
    
    Bill
    

    The technical name for the phenomenon afflicting your mainsail is
    
                  TERMINAL BATTEN POCKET POKE
    
    The cure costs about $500 and consists of placing an order for a
    new mainsail with your sailmaker.
    
    Be glad it took 15 years to happen to you.  With a mylar/kevlar
    main it can take as little as 15 minutes.  
    
    You can still sail with your main in its present condition.  Going
    upwind, there will be a nominal difference in speed.  Nothing too
    deadly if you're just cruising.  On a reach, the boat will be
    significantly slower.  Again, if you're not racing, so what.
    
    The cause is the inability of the cloth to distribute the point
    loading at the batten ends.  Dacron can do this better than mylar.
    Soft dacron does this better than resinated dacron.  That's why
    cruising sails, which are usually soft dacron, last longer than
    racing sails.  The point loading causes localized stretching beyond
    the elastic limit of the cloth, hence the puckering at the batten
    ends.  Since dacron stretches more without permanent distortion,
    it is less prone to this problem.  However, it happens to all sails
    eventually.
    
    Recognizing that the cost of using disposable plastic sails was
    exorbitant even for the deep pockets of ocean racing enthusiasts,
    the rule makers have recently lengthened the allowable length for
    battens.  Longer tapered battens distribute the weight of the roach
    over a larger area causing less point loading and less puckering.
    
    If you're going to race one design, the class rules may be a
    constraint.  But one design racers go through a sail a year anyway
    so it may be a moot point.  You can try taking it to a sailmaker.
    My experience is that they'll say something like "ooohh, that sail
    looks TIRED!!" and then try to sell you a new sail.  
    
    - gene

    I've got a 10 yr old main that I cruise with and it had the same
    problem. It's caused by the leach stretching with use. The load 
    between the end of the boom and the mast head moves forward and the
    roach falls to leeward.
    
    First check the stitching in the sail to see if it's worth trying to
    save. Hold the sail up in front of the sun and look through the
    stitching holes. If the holes have become badly elongated then the
    sail is dead. Pay special attention to the head and clew areas. Also
    look at the surface of each panel to see if there are areas badly
    worn by abrasion.
    
    If the sail looks good, you can tighten up the leach by having a 
    sailmaker open the seams and take in some cloth. The batten pockets
    should also checked while you're at it. For a boat your size, this
    should cost about $50-$100 depending upon how bad it is. 
    
    -Paul

    RE: .1
    
    	Good book but is a bit much for somebody just trying to get some
    insight about sail shape and construction.  I have it and someday I
    might even finish reading it.
    
    	Other alternatives exist Part of the sail to win series has a book
    called "Sails" by John Heyes it is under $10.00 and can be bought from
    from IMI, the USYRU, and others.  I have this and have read through it
    a couple of times it takes less than an evening.
    
    	The old TIME boating series has a section on sail shape I forget if
    it goes into details on construction.  Your local library might have
    this set of books.  The new "The Annapolis Book of SEAMANSHIP" by John
    Rousmaniere has a decent section of trim, and mentions care and repair. 
    You might check CHAPMANS at the local library I cannot remeber what it
    covers about sails it has been a long time since I last scanned that
    part of it.
    
    
    Forrest

    The other comment I love is "that will look nice made into crew bags"
    and then they pitch their goods.
    
    Dave

    Try going to your local library. The other day, I visited ours with
    my son. While waiting for him, I looked through the catalog under
    sailing. I was surprised to find over 150 books and tapes about
    the subject. Yup, I signed one out too...Sailing Smart. Recommended
    reading.
     

    Yeah, I would like to find a good book  on sailmaking. I'd like
    to find one that is thorough concerning all facets of putting together
    a sail.
    
    
    Gregg

    There is a do-it-yourself sail catalogue out that I can't remember
    the name of right now.   You send dimensions and they send back
    a kit with everything you need to make your own.   Has anyone ever
    tried this?
    
    It could be a good way to acquire some repair skills and learn
    something about sail construction along the way.
    

re -.1:

Sailrite Kits in Indiana is the company. One not so minor caution. Sewing a 
sail for a boat bigger than a dinghy or small daysailor isn't really feasible
on a home sewing machine. We have a number of repair bills for Julie's Singer
to prove it. Home machines simply lack the power and strength to slam a needle
through multiple layers of heavy sail cloth. Broken gears, etc, are the result
of trying. (Competent sewing machine repairpeople are hard to find by the 
way.)

After much thought, we bought an industrial sewing machine, which wasn't
cheap. It requires rather tricky readjustment when changing materials and
stitch type (straight or zigzag). Once adjusted, it will happily sew all day
at (as I recall) 3000 stitches per minute with a 1/4 hp motor. We use a much
smaller motor and sew much slower, however. Even with a small motor, we've
sewn six or seven layers of 8 oz sailcloth with no problem. Sailcovers and 
awnings don't even slow the machine down at all. 

The problem of sewing machine aside, handling a large sail as you sew it
together can be difficult. The heavy sail we made -- a riding sail built as
heavily as a storm jib -- was only 44 or so sq ft. Still, it took some doing
to sew it together. Our former sailmaker mounted his machines on the floor
with the operator sitting in a pit. Thus the sail could be laid flat on the
loft floor and slid through the sewing machine. Hood Sailmakers uses
industrial machines with a very long arm -- three feet or so -- and big
motors. 

At this point, we feel capable of minor sail repairs and restitching. Actually 
making a even somewhat decent sail would be a real challenge. (Riding sails 
are absolutely flat, which is easy. Adding camber is the trick.) When it comes 
time (all too soon) for new sails, we'll let a professional build them. 

    So can anybody recommend a book that will explains how to do things
    like put in reef points?
    
    Gregg

re -.1:

>>>    So can anybody recommend a book that will explains how to do things
>>>    like put in reef points?
    
Yes, but I don't remember the title ......

However, reef points are just additional tack and clew points. They would be 
added by sewing multiple reinforcing patches at the appropriate location on 
the sail and then pressing in a stainless steel grommet with a hydraulic press 
(unless you want to spend literally hours doing a traditional sewn ring). Just
copy the existing tack and clew. The reef clew on a mainsail should be located
so that the outer end of the boom is raised when reefed. This is to reduce the
chance of a wave filling the main when sailing downwind. 

Sailmakers don't charge all that much for adding reef points (the third reef 
on our mainsail was under $100 some years ago). 

    The best book I have seen on sails is called, wait for it.....
    
    "Sails", and is written by a guy with a name something like Jeremy
    Howard-Williams. It covers everything from how to choose and set
    sails, and includes a bit on how sails are made, and how you can
    make your own. Its a pretty thick book, which aims to cover everything
    in quite a lot of detail. No idea of publishers, price, etc though.
    
    Chris
    
    

	Re: .11

	Alan,

	I am talking about the row of reef ties along the sail, not the 
	tack and clew points (mine is an old boat). 

	What material do you use for the ties? how are they sown on?

	Gregg

>	I am talking about the row of reef ties along the sail, not the 
>	tack and clew points (mine is an old boat). 
>
>	What material do you use for the ties? how are they sown on?

Use a grommet at each position (smaller than the tack and clew). Run a piece
of 1/4 or 3/8 line through each grommet, with a figure 8 knot on each side
of the grommet, so it can't fall out. Leave a long enough tail on each side
so that you can tie the line around the bunched sail and boom. Leave it too
long at first, you can shorten it to the right length later. (It's really a 
*pain* when they're too short...) The grommet regions must be reinforced with
some additional sail cloth.

--RS

    Hi,
    
    A word of warning, do not make the reefing lines too strong, they
    should be able to break if the main reefing pennant slips or breaks,
    otherwise you will have a beautifully ripped sail all the way from
    the leech to the luff. Most sails are not reinforced very much around
    the reefing points (except for the one at the leech) and can rip quite 
    easily there. If the sail is rolled up before the lines are tied
    there should be very little strain on them so a very light
    cord is adequate.
    
    
    Aedan.

    Just to save you a bit of work...
    
    The racing main on he boat I sail on does not have reef points for the
    first reef. This has not caused us any problems and makes it quicker to
    put in & remove the reef. It is only when we put the second reef in
    that there is sufficient cloth flapping around to justify tying it in
    
    If you need to use the reef lines to keep the foot tight, then you are
    not using enough reef line tension ( particulary going upwind. )
    
    Chris
    

    Althought I swear by my sail book from Banks sails, I suggest
    the following web page:
    
    http://paw.com.sail/UKSailmakers/Encyclopedia/Encmain
    
    It is the main page of the UK Sailmakers Encyclopedia of
    sails.Everything you ever wanted to know in a simpilfied
    writting style and lots of diagrams.
    
    Not only sail construction and maintenence, but how to use telltales
    properly etc.  

I opened this up with Netscape.  Notice, it is encmain, not Encmain.
Unix world case sensitivity.

http://paw.com/sail/UKSailmakers/Encyclopedia/encmain

Alta-Vista got me close.

john, thanks for the pointer.  I am about half way through your rule book.

Doug
dtn 381-6355

    Actually I got to it by putting a www in there also:
    
    http://www.paw.com/sail/UKSailmakers/Encyclopedia/Encmain
    
    I don't think this kind of address is case sensitive...
    
    
    the other Doug.

    The host name part is NOT case sensitive, the filename part may be,
    depending on the host system. If the WEB server is unix, then the
    filename part is case sensitive.
    
    now back to sailing...