Hole in my Jib- easy fix?

[rbrasi]

I have a Harken Pro Furler that has come apart at the bearing half way up the jib (forestay?). PO just went with it and it tore a hole in the sail. I can tighten the set screws and re-seat the bearing no problem, but what about the sail? In the picture you can see that there is a 6" hole from the dislodged bearing. Is this something I need to take the sail down to fix, or is there a way to do it while it is attached to the furler?
The black strip you see to the right of the hole is 1/2" videotape used, I assume, for windtell.

[tommays]

A good patch would need a sewing machine

[tomperanteau]

This looks bad. We recently had our Genoa tear at the leach close to the bottom. We were able to use sail repair tape, which we used on both sides. It worked very well, and until we can buy a new sail, it will probably hold.

Be sure that you buy good quality sail repair tape and although some of what I have read doesn't require it, tape both sides.

Your problem is that you also have a hole. As tommays stated, you will probably need to patch that, and will need a sewing machine designed for sail sewing.

[Chris12345]

The sail looks way too dirty for anything to stick to it well, I would not use tape alone.

But I think you can easily fix it in place by first gluing some sail cloth/tape over the tear, and then hand-stitching it. This can be just as good as a professionally machine sewn patch, and the glue will still stick well enough to hold everything in place for you while you sew by hand.

Originally Posted by rbrasi

I have a Harken Pro Furler that has come apart at the bearing half way up the jib (forestay?). PO just went with it and it tore a hole in the sail. I can tighten the set screws and re-seat the bearing no problem, but what about the sail? In the picture you can see that there is a 6" hole from the dislodged bearing. Is this something I need to take the sail down to fix, or is there a way to do it while it is attached to the furler?
The black strip you see to the right of the hole is 1/2" videotape used, I assume, for windtell.

[celenoglu]

A patch glued is very difficult to sew. Hand sewing is always superior to machine sewing. Cut a piece (better two pieces on both sides) of canvas and hand sew the patch. It might be easier to lower the sail and sew it. Patches glued to the sail generally give up after some time. They are great to mend the sail during sailing but a proper patch better be applied and sewn as soon as you are back to land.

[Chris12345]

Try hand sewing with the sail in place without fist sticking the patches to the sail somehow...

Originally Posted by celenoglu

A patch glued is very difficult to sew. Hand sewing is always superior to machine sewing. Cut a piece (better two pieces on both sides) of canvas and hand sew the patch. It might be easier to lower the sail and sew it. Patches glued to the sail generally give up after some time. They are great to mend the sail during sailing but a proper patch better be applied and sewn as soon as you are back to land.

[TQA]

I think you need to take the sail down and inspect the bolt rope.

I can see no reason for the sail to tear unless the bolt rope has brocken.

On a propholatic basis it might be time to remove and refit all the grub screws using loctite.

[rbrasi]

I ended up taking it to UK Sail in MDR and they sewed it up for me in one day. I will be taking down the whole thing to put loctite in the set screws. Some of them were indeed loose.

[tomandchris]

Good decision. They can fix it right in less time than most of the home remedies, and the price is usually relatively cheap...especially when the home remedies fail.