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E29 mylar/kevlar
- Thread starter thomthod
- Start date
Composite sails
..........Will always be faster than dacron sails. The reason to buy a sail made out of any combination of composite materials is either performance related or you found a good used one really cheap that fits your boat.
These materials come in many varieties-some of the more cruising-oriented versions have the composite materials sandwiched between layers of light dacron, or are bonded to a one-side layer of dacron, so you can't really generalize about this.
What is generally done in any case is that dacron chafe patches are applied to the sail where it will come in contact with the bow pulpit, stanchions and shrouds. If you have found a sail that fits, you need to measure for this (most sailmakers have a measurement form on line which shows how and where to mark and fit the patches), and then you can either have the sailmaker do it, or you can buy a length of sticky back and cut and applies them yourself.
If the sail is being recut to fit your boat, you can also ask that the foot panel be replaced with dacron, but I would fit the chafe patches anyway.
Bottom line is that to give you a more specific answer I would need to know more details about the sail and specific construction.
You can contact me off line if you like.
Cheers!
..........Will always be faster than dacron sails. The reason to buy a sail made out of any combination of composite materials is either performance related or you found a good used one really cheap that fits your boat.
These materials come in many varieties-some of the more cruising-oriented versions have the composite materials sandwiched between layers of light dacron, or are bonded to a one-side layer of dacron, so you can't really generalize about this.
What is generally done in any case is that dacron chafe patches are applied to the sail where it will come in contact with the bow pulpit, stanchions and shrouds. If you have found a sail that fits, you need to measure for this (most sailmakers have a measurement form on line which shows how and where to mark and fit the patches), and then you can either have the sailmaker do it, or you can buy a length of sticky back and cut and applies them yourself.
If the sail is being recut to fit your boat, you can also ask that the foot panel be replaced with dacron, but I would fit the chafe patches anyway.
Bottom line is that to give you a more specific answer I would need to know more details about the sail and specific construction.
You can contact me off line if you like.
Cheers!
right side up...
Rotated 180, and slightly cropped/centered...
(Sorry, just could not resist...)
Nice looking Sail!
Rotated 180, and slightly cropped/centered...
(Sorry, just could not resist...)
Nice looking Sail!
Attachments
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E-29 under sail.jpg
Last edited:
Congrats!
Looks very nice! A couple of tips:
Do not overload the jib halyard. In the photo I can see you have sufficient tension for the conditions because in looking along the top and bottom draft stripes, it is clear the deepest part of the chord (which is the point of maximum depth on a fore and aft plane) is well forward of the mid point. That is good. It does not appear you have a tension ridge along the luff (which would indicate excessive tension)-also good.
So, when you hoist the sail, I would pull it hand tight (without grinding anything) as far as you can, then sheet the sail in and sail close hauled. Look at the draft stripes and note how far aft of the luff the maximum draft is. Your target is about 40% of the way aft. If you see the draft is 50% of more aft (midway between the luff and leech along the draft stripe), grind up the halyard slowly until you see the draft move fwd to about 40% of the way back.
You will notice it takes more halyard to hit this target as the breeze builds; if you were to mark the halyard with a magic marker for the correct tension in say 5 knots of breeze, you will find you need another inch or 2 more tension to get the same shape in 10-12 knots. You will likely have about 6" of adjustment between the light air and heavy air position. I would place marks on the halyard, maybe blue for light air and black for heavy air, and of course make a corresponding reference point on the deck or mast (wherever the halyard is controlled) so you crew can simply hoist to a marked point.
What you want to be careful of is sailing around with excessive load on the halyard. Not only will the draft be way too far forward for good sail shape, you will be shortening the life of the sail. I have a lot of other posts (as do our other supporters) about sail trim-the same principles apply to dacron or composite sails.
Also, your sheet lead may be a bit aft-it is hard to tell since you are sailing on a reach with sheets eased, but take the time to get the position right so you are getting full use of the sail. Mark the point for upwind sailing, and from there you have about 6-8" of aft adjustment (for depowering at the top end of the sail's range), and about 12-18" of fwd adjustment for reaching (the deeper you are sailing the farther fwd the sheet needs to be to keep the entire sail working.
Happy Happy!:nerd:
Looks very nice! A couple of tips:
Do not overload the jib halyard. In the photo I can see you have sufficient tension for the conditions because in looking along the top and bottom draft stripes, it is clear the deepest part of the chord (which is the point of maximum depth on a fore and aft plane) is well forward of the mid point. That is good. It does not appear you have a tension ridge along the luff (which would indicate excessive tension)-also good.
So, when you hoist the sail, I would pull it hand tight (without grinding anything) as far as you can, then sheet the sail in and sail close hauled. Look at the draft stripes and note how far aft of the luff the maximum draft is. Your target is about 40% of the way aft. If you see the draft is 50% of more aft (midway between the luff and leech along the draft stripe), grind up the halyard slowly until you see the draft move fwd to about 40% of the way back.
You will notice it takes more halyard to hit this target as the breeze builds; if you were to mark the halyard with a magic marker for the correct tension in say 5 knots of breeze, you will find you need another inch or 2 more tension to get the same shape in 10-12 knots. You will likely have about 6" of adjustment between the light air and heavy air position. I would place marks on the halyard, maybe blue for light air and black for heavy air, and of course make a corresponding reference point on the deck or mast (wherever the halyard is controlled) so you crew can simply hoist to a marked point.
What you want to be careful of is sailing around with excessive load on the halyard. Not only will the draft be way too far forward for good sail shape, you will be shortening the life of the sail. I have a lot of other posts (as do our other supporters) about sail trim-the same principles apply to dacron or composite sails.
Also, your sheet lead may be a bit aft-it is hard to tell since you are sailing on a reach with sheets eased, but take the time to get the position right so you are getting full use of the sail. Mark the point for upwind sailing, and from there you have about 6-8" of aft adjustment (for depowering at the top end of the sail's range), and about 12-18" of fwd adjustment for reaching (the deeper you are sailing the farther fwd the sheet needs to be to keep the entire sail working.
Happy Happy!:nerd:
windjunkee
Member III
I agree with Seth (no big surprise). Excellent sail trim tips.
Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
About those tips......
Everything in my post applies to all sails regardless of construction/materials. The stretchier the fabric the more the draft will move aft under load so more adjustment is needed with the halyard to bring it back where it belongs.
It also applies to mainsails (although there are a few other variables such as mast bend, foot tension, etc. which are not covered in the post), but the idea is the same-halyard tension should be set to position the draft in the desired location. Too much halyard for the wind speed results in draft too far forward, too little halyard results in draft too far back. Wrinkles along the luff of a main or jib/genoa are not an indicator of proper halyard tension by themselves-that is a function of how the sail was designed and the materials chosen-you may or may not have them present with the draft in the right spot-or put differently, you may end up with too much halyard if you always try to remove them.
Just sayin'............The post was not limited to mylar genoas!:0
Cheers
Everything in my post applies to all sails regardless of construction/materials. The stretchier the fabric the more the draft will move aft under load so more adjustment is needed with the halyard to bring it back where it belongs.
It also applies to mainsails (although there are a few other variables such as mast bend, foot tension, etc. which are not covered in the post), but the idea is the same-halyard tension should be set to position the draft in the desired location. Too much halyard for the wind speed results in draft too far forward, too little halyard results in draft too far back. Wrinkles along the luff of a main or jib/genoa are not an indicator of proper halyard tension by themselves-that is a function of how the sail was designed and the materials chosen-you may or may not have them present with the draft in the right spot-or put differently, you may end up with too much halyard if you always try to remove them.
Just sayin'............The post was not limited to mylar genoas!:0
Cheers