Recutting a used genoa

[cmj]

Hi to all,

The yacht I crew on has just been given a used Kevlar genoa which is about 40cm too long on the luff. We plan to recut it ourselves, as sailmakers'' prices are way too steep. The logical way seems to be to cut the foot and remake the tack and clew, but I''m wondering if cutting the leech is an option. I understand that with Dacron this would wreck the alignment of the panels, meaning that the stress along the leech wouldn''t line up with the fibres in the cloth. Is this as much an issue with Kevlar sails?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

[RichH]

Cutting the foot is the most prudent way to go (if the current leech is in good shape and is (not blown-out or tripped)... leaving you with reinstallation of the the tack and clew. However, the problem that you will have is setting the **proper bolt rope tension or luff tape tension**, and precisely setting in the cringles - whether pressed-in rings or d-rings..... and it is a LOT of hand work involved for a proper rebuild. In any sail construction, its the ''hand-work'' that take the most amount of time ($). If the sail has any value left in it, I''d take it to a sailmaker and spend the bucks to insure a well done job... as its not just a question of "slicing off"" some part of the sail.

Actually the leech of the sail is usually the part of the sail that is in worst shape. There is comparatively little load on the foot. Also Kevlar is far more stress oriented than any woven dacron having very little strength on the Bias compared to parellel to the fibers. You might be able to recut a dacron sail yourself but unless you really know what you are doing doing a Kevlar recut yourself seems a bit like operating your own "home heart bypass surgery kit".

Jeff