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stiffen sails - how often?

5K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  Bowedtoothdoc 
#1 ·
When storing sails for the winter, how often should they be "stiffened." I have a Catalina 25, only a main and genoa (both fairly new) and like to race once/week, otherwise it's a daysailer.
 
#7 ·
It's certainly not a "scam" per se, but I have never seen a good ROI posted on that process in thirty years. Might make 'em look crispier for a short time, but it's the breakdown in the cloth that hurts them.
If the cloth still passes inspection, have the sails recut. I have done that on a couple of boats and it really made a good difference in adding back performance and reducing heel.

Loren
 
#8 ·
Ah. You're referring to what Sailcare does.

We've had two dacron sails refurbished by them and they come out stiff and clean. The process strips off the impregnating resin, cleans the sail and re-resins the sail. BUT the process will NOT change the shape of the sail or eliminate any stretch that's occurred. And it only works for Dacron. The process DOES stabilize a sail in whatever shape it's in. So for that purpose, it's good, but you're not getting a new sail.

Bottom line: if a sail is out of shape and a sailmaker can't recut it, get a new sail. If it still has shape, hose it off, dry, and fold for the winter. Stripping resin from a sail that has good shape is not a good idea. I would not use the process again, I'd get a new sail.
 
#11 ·
Yes, the sailcare offering seems to have mixed reviews. Some say it makes them like new, others have issues with shrinkage. I think as to how often, I don't think you would want to do it more than once. Seems to be a last ditch effort to try to save an old sail, not really part of routine maintenance as far as I can tell. I am sure Sailcare will say different, but that is to be expected. I think for someone who races once a week you would want to consider new sails not "stiffening" and I would consider once a week pretty often. Now if you raced a few times a summer that is different.
 
#12 · (Edited)
As Sabreman said I also have used Sailcare® located in Ford City, PA for the cleaning, repairing and re-resining process and was impressed with the crispy, white sails they returned to me. As said, if the sail is blown out, they remain blown out, only much nicer looking. Its not a process you would want to do annually however, as it is rather expensive. Perhaps every 5 years or so.
 
#15 ·
re-seaming comment



I have had two mains recut - different boats. Each time they took some fullness out of the center by taking apart the old seams (these were standard panel dacron sails).

They took a calibrated curved slice out of each side and re-seamed. Part of the cloth removal, and it was subtle, was bringing back the whole curve shape to where it was before years and wind pressure had migrated it aft.

Cloth was in good shape and not rotted. It worked wonders for another several years until I could budget for a new main. Not sure if all seams were opened.

I do recall that when a new quality dac. sail cost about $1500, this was only about $250.
A bargain, all things considered.

L
 
#16 ·
Recutting a sail is something that only a sailmaker should perform. They will look at the sail and see whether or where it needs improvement and add or remove cloth as necessary.

Technology being what it is, most sailmakers can use a photograph of the sail taken from mast head or foot and software can calculate whether a change is necessary. It's important to realize that a sail is not a triangular piece of material that magically catches the wind, it's an airfoil and lift is everything. Shape = lift and most casual sailors have very little idea what the correct shape should be. In short, recutting a sail is not something an amateur should attempt, IMO.

We have a pretty new genoa made by an offshore loft. I thought that the luff had too fine an entry and the whole thing was too flat. Our current sailmaker ran a photo through their software and proposed recutting the luff and wading the back stay. They added a tapered strip of cloth along the luff and the result us a far better shape that is easier to keep in the groove. Amazing what a 1 1/2" piece of material in the right place can do.
 
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