Home made Sails

[DISTELTK]

???

I've made polytarp sails for my BRS 15.  They appear to work well.

I live in Michigan and the summers have very light wind a lot of the time.

Question ???  Why couldn't I make light weight sails from the nylon fabric that wind breaker jackets are made of.  The main is approx 50 sqft. These sails would be much lighter than the tarp sails or dacron sail fabric.  This should give me better performance than the heavier ones.  I had a boat with a spinnaker over 100 sq ft made of this type of nylon.

Tom D  BRS 15

[Designer]

Having never made poly tarp sails or studied their mechanical properties I can only compare Nylon to Dacron.

Nylon of the same weight is stronger than Dacron but it is very stretchy. Those properties make nylon ideal for spinnakers and Mizzen staysails. Those running sails are usually bigger and need to be much lighter than the working sails to hold up in very light air and the stretch qualities are advantagous for the full shapes that they have. They are usually made from 3/4" oz. for general use and 1/2 oz. for light air sails. The working sails for a BRS are usually made from 4 oz Dacron to hold its shape in strong wind and not stretch out of shape. They don't even make nylon for spinnakers that heavy.

[jawilco]

Were I to make my own sails I think I'd try Top Gun.

http://www.rochfordsupply.com/product_listing.asp_Q_CatID_E_419_A_SubCatID_E_487_A_ProdID_E_3500

[PAR]

I would think that polyester fabric would stretch quite a bit and the weight (11 ounces) is very high too.

[jawilco]

Looks like it's a good thing I don't make sails. ;D

[Charlie Jones]

That polyester is almost like Sunbrella. It's a step below Sunbrella, but basically the same kind of stuff. It's awning and sailcover type stuff and would be terrible for sails.

Why not just purchase some real sailcloth? Just like when building a boat, you are going to spend your valuable time ( your LIFE) doing it. Get the ( inexpensive) booklets from Sailrite on building a main sail and a jib, practice once with polytarp if you want, but then go for the real stuff. It works best cause that's what it's MADE for.

And on the lightweight sailcloth these small boats use, your home sewing machine should handle the fabric just fine. Laura has done all sorts of sail repairs and modifications using her portable Singer.

[PAR]

The Top Gun fabric you were thinking about is $9.50 a yard, stretchy and heavy.

Regular Dacron sail cloth from SailRite is $9.50 a yard for their 4 ounce, general purpose, light air stuff.

The "good stuff" which is 4.4 ounces (Super Cruise) is $15.50 a yard.

If you really want to have fun you can use Monofilm X-ply, which is Mylar with a little polyester thread weaved in to increase its tear resistance. It's clear, strong, stable, doesn't stretch and cool stuff for $13.50 a yard. The material (like most of the high tech stuff) is especially prone to UV break down. This stuff requires some serious sail shaping skills, as it will set however you cut it, wrinkles and bulges included.