Sail cloth weight

[Stan W.]

I'm about to order a brand new sail for the first time in my life. Sail is a mainsail. Boat is a CD 28. My sailmaker proposes to use Contender Supercruise 7.9 oz. sailcloth. Based on the Contender website, this looks like a little overkill. Considering only performance, and ignoring any cost factor, is this a good thing? Would I be better off with 6.9 oz.? Would I even notice the difference?

Thanks for any input.



smwheatley@capecod.net

[Don Carr]

Stan;
Your sailing venue (i.e. prevailing wind strength) usually determines
the cloth weight. The higher the prevailing wind the heavier the cloth
(Dacron at any rate). What you have to consider is in what wind velocity do you do most of your sailing. I am personally running a 7.5oz main, works very well in 12knots or better but the drawback is in lighter winds. The performance hit is in the low wind range.

The heavier cloth will hold it's shape longer in the lighter winds.
From a cost perspective there isn't much of a difference. If you sail in prevailing winds of 15knots or better I would go with the 7+ oz. cloth. IMHO.



carrds@us.ibm.com

[john doyle]

I'm about to order a brand new sail for the first time in my life. Sail is a mainsail. Boat is a CD 28. My sailmaker proposes to use Contender Supercruise 7.9 oz. sailcloth. Based on the Contender website, this looks like a little overkill. Considering only performance, and ignoring any cost factor, is this a good thing? Would I be better off with 6.9 oz.? Would I even notice the difference?

Thanks for any input.

Depends on where you sail & the normal wind you sail in. 8oz would be great for San Francisco Bay where the wind blows like crazy. The heavier the cloth, the harder to furl also.
john doyle
cd31 #18
Bonnie Blue



redzeplin@yahoo.com

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Captain Wheatley,

Yes, it sounds like overkill to me. When I was researching this a few months ago, for a CD-30 the Manufacturers recommended anywhere from 6.5 to 7.9 oz cloth! 7.9 would put extra weight aloft for a 28, and I dought you need it that heavy. Try other manufacturers and see what they recommend. I'll probably use 6.5 oz on Hanalei!

D. Stump, Hanalei

[Stan W.]

Naturally, local conditions vary widely. So far, my sailing has been in Cape Cod and Buzzards Bays, and Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds. Eventually expect to range down to Long Island Sound and up to Gulf of Maine. Winds can range from 0 - 30 knots, with gusts even higher, depending on the season and the weather on any given day. I guess what I want is a sailcloth weight optimized for 10 - 15 knot winds that still can handle occasional duty in 20 - 30 knot winds. Should I get 6.9 oz. or 7.9 oz.?



smwheatley@capecod.net

[john doyle]

Naturally, local conditions vary widely. So far, my sailing has been in Cape Cod and Buzzards Bays, and Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds. Eventually expect to range down to Long Island Sound and up to Gulf of Maine. Winds can range from 0 - 30 knots, with gusts even higher, depending on the season and the weather on any given day. I guess what I want is a sailcloth weight optimized for 10 - 15 knot winds that still can handle occasional duty in 20 - 30 knot winds. Should I get 6.9 oz. or 7.9 oz.?

go light with 2 rows of reef points
john doyle
cd31 #18
Bonnie Blue



redzeplin@yahoo.com

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Captain,

Go to macksails.com on the web, go to sails, and then to sailcloth, they have quite the description of what to expect when talking about sailcloth. Then call Mr. Mack and ask him what weight he would recommend for your vessel. Please tell him that I sent you, they WILL be building Hanaleis' new sails this spring next.

Dave Stump

[len]

stan

i recommend a quote from thurston sails in bristol, RI - terrific to deal with, they seem to genuinely care - ask for steve or gary - use my name

len



md.frel@nwh.org

[matt cawthorne]

Stan,
The lighter the weight the sooner your sail will need replacing. Several things can kill sails. Stretch is one of them. Heavier weight and earlier reefing help prevent this. UV exposure can eventually kill sails. Here again, the thicker the material, the longer it takes for UV to pennetrate. The stiching can go bad as well, but a sail can be re-stiched. It is my understanding that most sail cloth is resin filled these days. You get better sail shape with resin filled materials....for a while. Once a resin filled fabric gets baggy it is hard to get a reasonable shape from the sail. My boat came with sails made from unfilled fabric. They are softer and easier to handle. In addition I can still use halyard and outhaul tension to get a pretty good shape after 19 years. If I had more money to spend on sails I'd have new ones, but it is nice to know that I can milk a few more years out of these. I did have to re-stich them. Bear in mind that it may not be in the best interest of sailmakers to sell you sails that will last forever.

Matt



mcawthor@bellatlantic.net

[Stan W.]

Thanks to all for your timely input. Sailmaker agreed that 7.9 oz. was overkill and we went with the 6.9 oz. Is it May yet?



smwheatley@capecod.net