New jib

[Amontyg]

My jib had been UV damaged prior to buying Misty, and my last outing I noticed a 10” tear on the trailing edge of the sail. I patched it with some sail tape, but it is now officially time to start sail shopping. This is a first for me, so it will be a bit of a learning experience. Can I get some advice from the good folks here on how to purchase a new sail? I use a harken roller furler, and I sail in the Pacific Northwest in the Puget sound. I don’t plan on taking this boat offshore, and am not too concerned with performance. Just want something to get the job done at a good value.

 

[Pete the Cat]

I would advise a local sailmaker who will actually come to your boat to measure and look at the situation and they will have local advice on conditions and suggest cloth weights. Jib furlers often have to clear your bow pulpit or other obstacles and it helps to have someone actually look at the situation instead of just ordering a sail with the dimensions from some book. My general thought is that buying a sail larger than 100% needs a compelling reason. The problem is that a larger sail is going to wear out faster, be more of a hassle to tack, and will not give you much appreciable increase in speed, if any. Nearly all the power of a jib is produced in the first one third of the sail when going to windward and the added sail area downwind is probably not going to be significant. Clew height can be an issue and you need to be absolutely honest about how you will use the boat: a higher clew will make it easier to see traffic under the sail, but racers generally want them a bit lower to increase the power of the sail on some points of sail. Good local sail makers are quickly disappearing, but I still think they have a role that is worth paying a premium to access.

 

[bgary]

Call Ballard Sails. Great people, quality sails, and they care about happy customers....not just making a sale.

 

[Tin Kicker]

Bacon Sails in Annapolis is a main source on the Chesapeake and currently has 24 used sails that would fit, from a new Neil Pryde for $995 to a good condition one for $250. The sails are consignment and inspected by them for condition before being posted. Just use their search function.

Sail search page

Or they will make one and their prices are hard to beat. ($1,880+)

New Sails Pricing

 

[Mr. Scarlett]

I used Minney's in CA for a very good jib on my last boat. New hanks and a nice bag; it was under $800 including shipping to Vancouver.

 

[Amontyg]

Thanks for the heads up on shopping used, it seems like there are a lot of sails out there at pretty reasonable prices. I believe my furler uses a #7 7/16 luff tape, which seems fairly rare on the used sails I've seen. Is it reasonable/common to have a sailmaker change the tape size? If so, does anyone have any info on generally how much that would cost? It seems the savings from buying used could quickly be eroded by making alterations vs just buying new.

Also any suggestions on size? I just measured the sail and it has an 18' foot. I believe that makes it a 139 for my boat. I haven't generally had any complaints about the way this sail has handled, but I'm also not experienced enough to know what improvements a differently sized sail might offer.

 

[Loren Beach]

In general, a #6 luff tape is quite common. And, modifying a used sail can indeed erode the hoped-for savings of a used sail.
Lotta light air in your region, so it might pay to stick with something above a 120 or a 130.
Plan "B" might be to talk to all of the major lofts in your area, and ask about their in-house deals on sails returned for wrong size or other customer relations situations.
They might have a new sail to sell you, at 50% off, that might fit your boat with minimal or no mods.
Used sails, OTOH, are often a total crap-shoot, unless you know the seller and really trust his/her statement of of past years of sailing life and type of usage.
Consider what Bruce and Ray said. Sometimes a new sail with a warranty is actually less expensive... in terms of money, time, and aggravation.

 

[Kenneth K]

The people at Bacon's are very knowledgeable and helpful. If you find a sail on their website that you like, they will pull it from their shelves, inspect it, and give you an honest assessment of its condition. This might be the way to go if you are still "exploring" the type/size of headsail you want.

If, on the other hand, you're already sure you want, say, a foam-luffed 135% jib, it's probably cheaper in the long run to just go new.

 

[Christian Williams]

Yes, as said above , call a local sailmaker (sailmaker's rep). If you;re close, they'll come to the boat to measure, and you can discuss your needs and budget and listen to recommendations. Every time my mind has been changed--let's say "improved"-- by my local UK rep, who is candid about realities. Unless you're racing, in which reality goes out the window along with the budget.

For casual sailing, think Dacron. Lasts longer, cheaper. Foam luff. All-purpose cloth weight.

You can get a price quote by email, using the standard measurements from sailboatdata. Before ordering, rig always gets measured hands-on, and if a sailmaker measures it, he is responsible for correct fit. If you measure it for mail-order (which can be cheaper) incorrect measurements are on you.

 

[bgary]

I just measured the sail and it has an 18' foot. I believe that makes it a 139 for my boat.

Just a random note - the foot doesn't tell you the effective size.

The measurement you want is called the "luff perpendicular" (or LP). Easiest way to measure it is to lay the sail flat, run a tape measure from the clew to some point on the luff where the tape measure is perpendicular to the luff.

(that measurement will almost always be shorter than the foot...)

 

[G Kiba]

I found this source for production sails affordable and fast (when in stock). I bought a jib and an asymmetric spinnaker from them and find their quality is good. Not as good as a custom made sail but for the price and time to delivery for a new sail quite good. Io believe, all of their new sails are by Rolly Tasker. Website lists most if not all of their inventory and I have called them on occasion with reasonable success (I think it is a "mom and pop" business run by someone who likes/liked sailboats). I have recommend them to many friends who have also had good results. I have NO connection to this business. https://thesailwarehouse.com/cgi-bin/web_store.cgi?page=storeframe.html&cart_id=

 

[Amontyg]

Appreciate all the great info and leads. I've been checking out the used options and am considering one of the sails I see on Bacon's site.

They have a 130 genoa, with a luff dimension of 34' 4". I measured my max luff today, and it came out to 37' 3" My current Genoa has a Luff of 36' 10" The bacon sail seems quite a bit smaller, and I'm wondering how much of an impact that could have on speed and performance.

What other considerations should I have for choosing a sail with a shorter luff than the max? I assume there is a proper way to rig the sail so that it sits centered or otherwise appropriately spaced between the deck and top of mast, but I'm not sure what the appropriate way to rig that would be.

 

[bgary]

In my opinion, attach the tack in its normal position, and add a pennant to the top if needed. The only issue of the short hoist may be if the halyard has a chance to wrap around the head stay, that can affect furling. You can help prevent this by keeping the halyard tight.

Bruce

 

[hjohnson]

We sewed our own 130% jib using a kit from Sailrite. That said, we have access to a Sailrite sewing machine. Was a good weekend project for the ownership group on our E27. Also made my mother (a retired Home Economics teacher) laugh at us guys relearning the fundamentals of sewing.

We've now had that sail on the boat for 4 years or so, and it's holding up great.

 

[Amontyg]

In my opinion, attach the tack in its normal position, and add a pennant to the top if needed. The only issue of the short hoist may be if the halyard has a chance to wrap around the head stay, that can affect furling. You can help prevent this by keeping the halyard tight.

Bruce

It also makes sense to me to have the tack as low as possible. My thought is to add a pendant to the tack only to allow the sail to clear the pulpit, then add one to the top as/if needed, though like you say, it seems less of an issue unless it is interfering with furler operation

 

[bgary]

It also makes sense to me to have the tack as low as possible.

Two things happen if you add a pennant at the tack
1) it raises the center-of-effort of the sail, which adds to heeling force, and
2) it opens up space between the bottom of the sail and the deck, losing the "end plate effect" and making the sail slightly less efficient on the wind.

If you're planning to race, those are worth thinking about. If you're cruising and not worried about losing a few percentage-points of potential performance (*), neither one of those is a big deal.

(*) awkward alliteration acknowledged...


Bruce