I've had it in mind to build a sail from scratch but havent been game to cut into my roll of sailcloth.
when we were in Argentina , I was fortunate to meet up with Marcelo Alvarez from Foxtrot Velas.
Apparently there are only 6 sailmakers in South America, all in Buenos Aires. only 2 make landyacht sails. It makes you realize how lucky we are.
I bought a sail from him that is typical of European landyacht sails. It has a very straight leach and a high rounded head. I was very happy with the sail and on the salt at Lefroy it has sailed beautifully,fitting my local mast and promo CL5 very nicely.
the sail on the left is the FOXTROT VELA it measures in at 5.15m( FISLY system).
sail on the right is a cut down RAF 6.5m that now measures in at 5.495m(FISLY system).
Marcelo was very happy to discuss the details of the cutting of the panels and the way the sail was created to take the shape that works.He was qute happy for a sailmaker in Australia to recreate the sail.
Given the cost of supporting a wife and 5 daughters put paid to the idea of letting a real live sailmaker loose on the sail, so why not try it myself
In S.Am. sail cloth is very expensive,so when a sail is first designed it is cut from POLYETHYLENE cloth that is commonly used throughout S.Am. for gravel and sand used in concreting. After a number of sails are tested the final design is built in Dacron/mylar.
in the meantime they have realized that the leftover poly sails are extremely tough longlasting sails, just what you want in the Southern Ocean.
The Sails we were supplied with for the WC08 were poly sails,and were not quite as good as the Dacron sails, but it made me realize that ,here was a great way to learn how to make sails without the material costs.
The top 4m of the sail profile has been transcribed to the floor of my cave and the rear panels adjusted to fit it.
the points are marked through the sail by poking a large needle through the sail and marking the concrete. I actually use a load of old screwdrivers,kichen utensils,etc which have been ground to a fine point. these will be used to mark the point onto the template material later.
Once the panel shape has been worked out on the floor ity can be tranfered to a set of vinyl templates. for this 4m sail I used4.5m of floor vinyl. luckily it came out of a rubbish skip. the piece as ALMOST big enough to redo the kitchen but I couldnt find a set of cupboards to go with it .
The rear panel, according to Marcelo were as you see them, ie all straight lines giving a large flat panel when sewn together. The curved shape in the sail is created by a 20mm even curve along the rear edge of the front panel. 
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this panel has had such a curve added to the template piece by bending a long glass batten on the vinyl.
Each vinyl template has had a 10mm seam added to those sides which will be sewn. the panels have been numbered on the floor of the cave as well as on the vinyl templates. also marked on the templates is the direction of the cloth. 
2 hours of marking and cutting later and we have 16 template pieces all ready to go.
In the next post you will be scared and amazed by the source of my polyethylene cloth.
Life is just sooooo good
here is a photo of the AWLS made from any old tool. once the right spot on the lino template is found by poking it through and looking underneath you can leave it in place ,fit a straight edge to it and draw avery accurate line. 
Next photo. Here are the Material Girls showing the source of our sail cloth. 
These bags have been used for EXpandable polystyrene . I discovered that there is a plant here in Kalgoorlie where the make it into any size beads you want. They think it is possible to do a molded piece (OOOOOH says FAZE5).
the used bags are really clean and dont have any grit,oils, etc to affect the sewing machine. you can see the size of the panels we recovered. the panels are are initially cut out with a good stone axe. (I have 2 . one Australian indiginous and one Inka) . 
the panels are a bit wrinkled so you need to secretly borrow a loved ones steam iron and iron the material with plenty of steam,and about 3/4 heat. (max heat will melt the sheets)
3 panels sewn lengthways is long enough for the longest panels in this sail. all the seams are being cut with a hot knife so the seams wont fray later. the tip of my soldering gun didnt cut very well so I made a new tip from heavy copper wire. the wire is hammered and filed to a proper sharp edge and can be sharpened by hammering again. 
I might try making it out of bronze welding rod next time.
all 16 panels have been cut out and I have begun by sewing together the 5 main panels . You can see the shape of the sail every time you add a panel. 
tommorow I will add the corner reinforcing,unless I go sailing and camping instead.
today looked like rain ,so for the first long weekend in ages I stayed at home to play landyachts instead of the lake.
All the panels have been sewn on and I have marked the seams with red and black marker so I can see anything out of shape when it gets onto a mast. the edges have been taped with some Dacron/mylar laminate offcuts that date to late last century
. All up the maximum thickness has been 8 layers of poly+ 2 layers of tape. The sewing machine is having no problems sewing it and it should be plenty thick enough for the eyelet.
Next job is the batten pockets. these are stuck on with double sided tapeready for sewing. Again the awls are used to stretch the cloth whilst matching the pocket material. 
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AS you can see my bench is getting bigger and bigger. I really need a proper loft dont I.
Photo as requested of Machine SINGER 20U professional. I use 3.2km rolls of thread
Posted 1 hour, 14 mins ago
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Here is some discussion on the subject of holding the cloth together before sewing. GIZMO asked about using double sided tape.
here is MY tight arse alternative
I use miles of the stuff! At bunnings they had scotch brand at $8 for 3m. No way Jose.At crazy clarks it was in 10m rolls for $2. these were 50mm wide rolls so I cut it length ways with a stanley knife into thinner strips of 15 or 25 mm . thats 40m for $2.
Last time I went to buy some the 50mm rolls were gone and they only had 25mm rolls so I bought every roll in the shop!. That is what Im using on the current sail,as the seams are mostly 20mm. the thinner strips are mainly used for batten pockets.
An alternative system is to hold the panels together with packaging tape ,preferably clear and sew straight over it, then peel off afterwards. this system actually works really well,but on really old sailcloth you sometimes get little bits sticking too well to the mylar surface .
Alternative 3 is to use contact adhesive to glue it together then sew later. that works too and I used it to make Gaff sails for my schooner.
The sail is finished so I thought Id put a few photos up of the fiddly bits that make it all slow down towards the end. If you roll the sail tight it wiil fit through the hole in the sewing machine . this is important when it comes time to sew the pocket.
I havent had much luck getting the webbing type ends to work on a landyacht sail,particularly if the pocket is a recycled one and a bit tght, so I use these little RONSTAN PNP087 batten protectors. ( happy to accept freebies for that plug) If the batten is not tacking well you can unscrew them and move the batten end back a bit.
finally add personal logo
and compare to the 4m sail that was very close to a BLOKART sail. 
here is the finished sail with battens . Hopefully the job tommorrow will finish early and there will be buckets of wind going for free. 
the batten adjusters I use are made by me . They were designed by Vic Bermingham(AUS230) and made by heating ,cutting and drilling a bit of 16mm conduit . they are rather good value and are some of the best adjusters I've used. 
Hi Landyacht,
Very impressive!
Would you say that the stretch characteristics of your cloth are similar to the one on the sail that you bought? Are you considering putting another panel down the front of the sail to help with the downhaul tension? Or are landyacht sails much less taut than windsurf sails?
That batten tensioner design looks like a winner, top idea 
I'm eagerly anticipating your report on how it sails 
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Select to expand quote
Select to expand quotesplitpin said...Great looking sail Landyacht , so now you have the art of making a sail throw caution to the wind and have a go with the real cloth,you will be suprised how easy it will be to make.May be you should go into sail making as a landyacht sail designer/ maker only as you under stand what is required.Yes the pros wont like it but they do not understand land yachts,as i made yacht sails for about 10-12 years.
Well thank you for the comliment. The roll of cloth is sitting ,waiting for the right time. As the second complimenter you have been assigned second turn to take the Mickey if it all goes wrong!
Cheers Paul
This is sounding better all the time!!
I chuck out once used poly bulker bags by the dozen at the mine (we have our ammonium nitrate delivered in them)
you will need to get some that are really clean. NO diesel,road grime...........
cut the panels from 4 1tonne bags you only need the panels from 2 but if you cut 4 you can throw out the panels with writing on them. lay the out on the lawn and scrub and flush all the am NI out dry it out and do it again. those chemicals will at your sewing machine if the material is damp or not clean enough.
I rigged up this morning and it looks real nice at first.the shape of the foot sits very nicely on the side of the boom . 
Here is how I mount the front of the sail. the ropes stop the eyelet from tearing out and by tensioning the ropes you can pull any wrinkles out. 
I found that the downhaul tension was not enough so I altered it to use an adjustable downhaul that tightens from the last pulley in the mainsheet. this is the system that FAZE5 likes to use.. 
After lunch I told everybody I was off to do a gardening job and shot out to a claypan to rig and sail.all looks kind of groovy at this stage. 
the last 0.5m of the vertical seam will need unpicking and recutting this will put a bit more shape in that top batten.The top of the mast pocket needs altering to remove a wrinkle. 
the sail works beautifully, and would probably even be competative in 15knts.
I'm rather pleased with myself, Now where is that roll of sailcloth?
Sure looks like you've 'Bagged' it Paul....
I'm putting my order in when sailcloth...
Cheers
I agree!! So how much do you estimate the total cost has been to make a DIY mini with a ply seat and home made sail?
No going back now. I cut a set of panels in the roll of red 4oz cloth after work today . i managed 4 panels sewn before it got to cold in the shed. Looks like rain tomorrow so there is a job waiting to happen
OK I skipped acouple of steps and the photo shows 1 afternoon of workwith only 20 mins off to fly a kite with the kids.
battens and eyelets tommorow. Im finding the maths of it all a bit odd. The cloth is 900mm wide,and the finished sail is 4m , yet I have made my way through 7m of cloth ,and havent cut the pocket yet .
theres barely any scraps left, even Barbie could make an outfit from whats left
Looking good Paul,
If it goes half as good as it looks, you gotta be on a winner.
Red 1's go faster..
AND the rollof cloth doesnt look like Ive taken anything off so we might get that 5.4 sail out of it yet
