My sailing buddy George has until recently had use of my spare 4.5m sail when that got sold with my old yacht we decided to find a windsurf sail to recut. We found a 6.5 sail on Ebay that looked ok, cheap, a wide material strip on the luff side so not too much cutting into the mylar and an outhaul that looked as if it could stay in place. With similar alloy masts I already had a luff template so we used that to cut the luff and then we reinforced the top end where we had cut into the mylar. At that point we thought it might be useful to photograph the process, pity we did not do it from the beginning. The sail was originally a cammed sail so after cutting the batten pockets needed rebuilding, fishing braid for thread and an adapted soldering iron to help the needle through.
While George got on with the batten reinforcement I prepared the luff tube, the original was very wide so it was cut to use the original fold, the offcuts would come in useful for the base of the sale. A single stitch was used to size the tube so that later it would be easy to locate it on the luff edge.
The luff was then attached to the sail edge, so much easier as a two person job.
The top of the luff was finished with hand stitching.
The sail was then temporarily rigged so that we could best judge the foot of the sail cut off.
The foot was then reinforced with an off cut of luff tube, stuck on with seamstick tape and then stitched, silicone spray helps keep the needle free of a sticky build up from the tape, the corner was also reinforced.
The original reinforcement tapes where refitted along the foot and the bottom edge of the sail before the bottom of the luff was finally hand stitched.
The corner of the sail was then prepared and an eyelet fitted.
Extra reinforcement was added.
Finally we tried it rigged.
Now we are just waiting for the wind and tide for the real test
Hey that is a really nice job.
I really like the idea of the soldering iron and also how you have reinforced the eyelet. Well done.
When we recut the bottom of the sail we put a bow down in it. A 2" or 50mm or so curve down in the centre of it is enough. Just use a batten to mark it out.
This makes the sail sit in front of the boom in lighter winds until powered up and then it then pops over with tension of the wind.
This helps to get moving when the wind is a bit fickle.
I like the idea of 2 people when working with mono film as it has the tendency to crease if not cared for properly if the table area is not big enough.
The long straight stich is what I use for the luff attachment too. If the mast is a tight fit as in some of the smaller sails I remove this straight stitch after the luff is fitted, to give the mast a tad more room when setting it up.
Just run a cigarette lighter up the luff to tidy up the fluffy frayed threads.
Made my day guys........ five stars from me.
Select to expand quoteBynorthsea said..
My sailing buddy George has until recently had use of my spare 4.5m sail when that got sold with my old yacht we decided to find a windsurf sail to recut. We found a 6.5 sail on Ebay that looked ok, cheap, a wide material strip on the luff side so not too much cutting into the mylar and an outhaul that looked as if it could stay in place. With similar alloy masts I already had a luff template so we used that to cut the luff and then we reinforced the top end where we had cut into the mylar. At that point we thought it might be useful to photograph the process, pity we did not do it from the beginning. The sail was originally a cammed sail so after cutting the batten pockets needed rebuilding, fishing braid for thread and an adapted soldering iron to help the needle through.
While George got on with the batten reinforcement I prepared the luff tube, the original was very wide so it was cut to use the original fold, the offcuts would come in useful for the base of the sale. A single stitch was used to size the tube so that later it would be easy to locate it on the luff edge.
The luff was then attached to the sail edge, so much easier as a two person job.
The top of the luff was finished with hand stitching.
The sail was then temporarily rigged so that we could best judge the foot of the sail cut off.
The foot was then reinforced with an off cut of luff tube, stuck on with seamstick tape and then stitched, silicone spray helps keep the needle free of a sticky build up from the tape, the corner was also reinforced.
The original reinforcement tapes where refitted along the foot and the bottom edge of the sail before the bottom of the luff was finally hand stitched.
The corner of the sail was then prepared and an eyelet fitted.
Extra reinforcement was added.
Finally we tried it rigged.
Now we are just waiting for the wind and tide for the real test
Finally got an opportunity to try the sail, wind about 20mph, sand very soft and not a lot of beach. Got going well and pulled well.
