Catalina 27 sail questions????

[wildcard]

I have a few questions so I will ask them all at once. 1975 Catalina 27 footer, stock mast, what size in the jib?
Can a roller jib be made into a conventional jib and how?
Is there a used sail locker in the Caribbean I can get a jib from?

Friends boat Im trying to get sailable again so I have a "free" boat here. The roller jib broke and we are looking at the quick/cheap/easy way to replace it.
Thanks in advance!

[wildcard]

Come on, someone has to be able to answer part of this. Need a hand here guys.

[Sailormann]

what size in the jib?

No idea but the specs are readily available from Catalina, or you can ask on the Catalina owner's website Catalina Owners.com for owners sailing production sailboats

Can a roller jib be made into a conventional jib and how?

Yes - if the roller jib does not have a foam pad sewn into the luff, all you need to do is sew hanks on to the luff. You may need to reinforce the luff with tape. (I am assuming that you're not too concerned with getting perfect sail shaping here). This is best done by a sailmaker, who has some experience and the correct tools, but it is possible to do it yourself. If there is a foil on the headstay that is attached to the furling drum, you will need to remove it, so that you are left with a simple wire cable forestay that you can hank your jib onto.

Is there a used sail locker in the Caribbean I can get a jib from?

If you get the measurements for the jib, and again, if you are not too concerned about perfect trim, you may be able to find various sails that will fit the boat. As far as a used sail seller in the Caribbean goes - can't help you at all, but if you try logging on to some other cruising websites - you may find someone who knows.

Good luck.

[sailingdog]

What broke on the roller furling system. It may be cheaper to repair the roller furling system than it is to have the existing jib modified to hanks. It would certainly make more sense to fix the gear than to start ripping the gear down and modifying the sail, if it is possible to do so at a reasonable cost.

[tenuki]

It's fairly easy to take your EPIJ measurements, I just did this with a builders tape measure. Make sure you tie the other end of the halyard to the shackle instead of relying on the tape measure to haul it back down when you do the P and I measurements.

Then got to FXSails or someplace and enter your boat model into their calculator, you can compare your EPIJ measurements with what is there and figure out what boat you have and what to order. That's what I did, there were two ranger 24s and I had to take the measurements myself to figure out which one I had.

[wildcard]

We talked about repairing the roller. I think it was just the rods that broke. I'll ask some more about that option.
I dont have a tape here to measure with.
Can someone confirm that the measurements shown above are correct? I was told that for the jib you measure on the forestay and not the mast?

[tenuki]

EPIJ is the standard way to measure a sailboat and that does not include a forestay measurement (it can be calulcated via I and J. I was recommending finding out what your measurements were as a means to identify the boat you had.

However, rollerfurlings complicate things a bit, most sail lofts have their own measurement techniques and forms you fill out when buying a sail from them.

CD's Genoa/Jib/Staysail Measurement & Order Form
FX Sails - Custom Sail Measurement Forms

If you have your EPIJ measurements you can then go to someplace like FXSail and use their 'Instant Quotes' by putting in 'Catalina 27', then when the three choices of boats come up, you can pick the right one based on your measurements.

After that if you have a roller furler you need more measurements, which they will ask you for.

Buying used sails is another story.

Measure with rope, then measure the rope. I can't believe you don't have a ruler or something?!

[wildcard]

I work far from home, not much to work with here. For my boat I ran a glass tape up on the halyard.
Thanks for the input.

[Sabre66]

Here are the three choices from Bacon sails.Try them for used sails, But buyer beware!

Catalina 27 SD designed by Butler
I
34.50 ISP
34.50 J
11.25 SPL
11.25 P
28.66 E
10.50 Py
0.00 Ey
0.00 Check mains in stock
Check Jibs in stock
Draft
3.42 C/B
0.00 Prop
OB Beam
8.83 Disp
7300 LWL
21.75 UP S/D
14.6 DW S/D
31.6 D/L
317 Year
1970

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Bacon & Associates 410-263-4880
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Catalina 27 TM designed by Butler
I
36.00 ISP
36.00 J
12.20 SPL
12.20 P
29.66 E
9.66 Py
0.00 Ey
0.00 Check mains in stock
Check Jibs in stock
Draft
4.00 C/B
0.00 Prop
OB Beam
8.83 Disp
6850 LWL
21.75 UP S/D
16.1 DW S/D
36.2 D/L
297 Year
1970

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Bacon & Associates 410-263-4880
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Catalina 27 WK designed by Butler
I
34.50 ISP
34.50 J
11.25 SPL
11.25 P
28.66 E
10.50 Py
0.00 Ey
0.00 Check mains in stock
Check Jibs in stock
Draft
3.50 C/B
0.00 Prop
OB Beam
8.83 Disp
7300 LWL
21.75 UP S/D
14.6 DW S/D
31.6 D/L
317 Year
1970

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