New Sail hassle

heynonnie · #1 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

Hi Sailors

I need some counseling and advice before I lose my temper and hope that all you wise and sage sailors will be able to settle me down a bit. Here's the problem

I needed to buy a new mainsail for my CAL 28 this year and tapped a sail loft in a city about 2 hours away to do it for me. I had had a bad experience with them when I bought my new headsail about 5 years ago, ( they did not complete the order as written up and their only comment was..."oh so sorry, it really won't make any difference in the way the sail performs". "If you want us to make the change, it will take "x" more weeks and cost "x" more money"

Nevertheless, because they are the only game in this part of the state, I decided to try again. This time I decided to work very closely with them to assure no hassles, communicated by email, not phone, kept records etc. I asked if someone would come down to take measurements to make sure there were no mistakes, but they declined and said they knew exactly what they were doing as they had just made a similar sail earlier in the year and had no questions. Just to be on the safe side, I took them my old sail to use as a template, so there would be no question as to what the dimensions were for this older boat

Would you believe that when the sail came it didn't fit!!! I'm attaching a picture so you can see the problem.

The company representative is now telling me that it's not a problem with the sail. He maintains the huge gap at the foot is because it's not hauled up completely and so now he wants to sell me a new halyard! When we asked him if he'd come and install the halyard, and be present in case that didn't solve the problem, he said "oh no, we don't do rigging, you just buy it from us and we'll give you a good deal"

( There was no offer to come and look at the sail and my current set up, no concerns about the fact that I had spent over $1600 and have a faulty sail that does not fit my boat)

So here's my question, if my current halyard ran my old sail up far enough so that it didn't leave a huge gap above the tack and last slug, why isn't is good enough to run my new sail up?

Am I being hasty in believing that I'm getting another load of manure from this company?

And, if I do have to install a new halyard, how much is that going to cost and what kind of hassles am I likely to encounter in doing that?

All I want to do is sail.....is that too much to ask?

Sailin' Gal

heynonnie · #2 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

Sorry, couldn't figure out how to attach a picture. Suffice to say that there is a huge gap between where the sail attaches at the tack that goes about three feet up to where the first slug is placed. Lots of daylight through there!

My reef lines are all slacked, my halyard is as taught as it can get and positioned nearly to the top of the mast, just as it always has been for the last 15 years. I can see no reason why this new sail has such a gap when my old one ( stretched as it was) did not.

Any ideas?

heynonnie · #3 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

sorry ...."taut"

imagine2frolic · #4 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

That's a lot of manure to haul around. Do you wanna borrow a wheel barrel?.....i2f

doubleeboy · #5 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

I hope you paid by credit card. If so, you might return the sail, and contest charges with card company. You will need 10 posts here before you can post pics I think. You might try racking up some more posts over in off topic on the song chain thread.

michael

peptobysmol · #6 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

1. Time to lose your temper.

2. Borrow the wheel barrow

3. Fool me once, shame on you...

I'm in the market for a new sail as well.

DrB · #7 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

it is nearly impossible to understand what could be the issue.

DrB

CaptKermie · #8 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by heynonnie

Hi Sailors

I need some counseling and advice before I lose my temper and hope that all you wise and sage sailors will be able to settle me down a bit. Here's the problem

I needed to buy a new mainsail for my CAL 28 this year and tapped a sail loft in a city about 2 hours away to do it for me. I had had a bad experience with them when I bought my new headsail about 5 years ago, ( they did not complete the order as written up and their only comment was..."oh so sorry, it really won't make any difference in the way the sail performs". "If you want us to make the change, it will take "x" more weeks and cost "x" more money"
"You should never have given them your business again"

Would you believe that when the sail came it didn't fit!!! I'm attaching a picture so you can see the problem.

The company representative is now telling me that it's not a problem with the sail. He maintains the huge gap at the foot is because it's not hauled up completely "He could be right"and so now he wants to sell me a new halyard! "new halyard indicates he thinks you are an idiot" When we asked him if he'd come and install the halyard, and be present in case that didn't solve the problem, he said "oh no, we don't do rigging, you just buy it from us and we'll give you a good deal"
"No deal is good if it doesn't work"

So here's my question, if my current halyard ran my old sail up far enough so that it didn't leave a huge gap above the tack and last slug, why isn't is good enough to run my new sail up? "It is good enough"

Am I being hasty in believing that I'm getting another load of manure from this company?
"Could be a half load of manure at least the new halyard part is"
And, if I do have to install a new halyard, how much is that going to cost and what kind of hassles am I likely to encounter in doing that?
"The hassle of more money, travel and effort for no good reason"
All I want to do is sail.....is that too much to ask?

Sailin' Gal

I cannot see how a new halyard is going to hoist the sail any higher than your old one did or does, it is simply not logical, a line is a line and one line newer is not going to hoist the sail any higher than the old line.
Now that said, I had a similar problem with my new sail, there was a gap between the tack and first slug that created excess belly in my sail, nice for light winds but I could see with a pair of binnoculars that there was still several inches at the top of the mast to hoist it higher but it seemed to be sticking when I pulled on the halyard led aft. So, after a few sails it bothered me enough to start figuring it out. My first idea was to see if I could just go up to the mast and pull it taut standing on the deck. Well once we got the boat headed directly into the wind to release the pressure I was able to pull the halyard at the mast and finish hoisting the sail those last few inches. It seems my halyard has a tendency to bind a bit going through all the pulleys to be led aft, so I now wrap it a couple times around the winch which is directly behind the halyard clutch, then use the winch and handle to get the last few inches and still it is hard so I also have to go forward to the mast and pull down on the halyard while my wife pulls it through the clutch. So much for my stupid halyards aft setup, doesn't quite cut it.
Anyway try hoisting the new sail while docked when there is absolutely no wind and hoist it from the mast to see if you can get the last remaining few inches hoisted. Your old halyard can do this just fine, but try it from standing at the mast where it can be pulled more easily, it might just go all the way up like mine did.

Flybyknight · #9 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

Post 5 times:
Sail Loft X is the company that I will never deal with again.

Dick

scottyt · #10 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009

to post pics you need 5 posts

then use photobucket or flicker to host them then use the insert imagine icon, it looks like a box with a mountian in it, right next to the link symbol.

as for what to do, if you used a credit card call them and tell them they have 48 hours to come look with you present or you fight the charges on your card.