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dridas · 06-12-2016, 15:39

I bought a Catalina 25 about a month ago. Boat sat for a few years. Long story short, it needs some work.

I originally thought the headsails sacrificial cover was just damaged, however discovered that it was furled the wrong direction, and the foot/leech of the sail have UV damage, while the sacrificial cover is intact and in excellent condition. The majority of the sail is in excellent condition, with all seams and sailcloth in great condition- with the exception of:

The foot and leach of the sail - 5-6 inches along the edges are tattered, and obviously damaged from UV.

So, my question: Is it possible to just sew a new sheet of sailcloth along the edges of the foot and leech, replace the leech edge and the bolt ropes on the foot and leach?

I've never sewn a sail before, but have reupholstered boat cushions with success, so would be comfortable sewing zigzags, and have reviewed many a videos at sailrite on sail repair. That said, I would be comfortable doing the repair myself. Local sail loft recommended that I buy a new sail, because the cost to repair would exceed $1000. I felt this was a little disingenuous, so decided to turn here for help in making a decision.

Lastly, if I conduct the repair, I believe I would take the new sail cloth to the edge of the sacrificial cover (seams), and believe the best method for application is to glue (spray adhesive) the new sail cloth on to the old sail, running full seams parallel with the edge and then perpendicular seams every 18 inches.

Your suggestions and guidance would be highly appreciated. I've attached a picture to show what the damage looks like. The Luff of the sail is in near perfect condition, as is the bulk of the sail.

brianlara 3 · 06-12-2016, 15:42

As the rest of the sail is in excellent condition surely it deserves the attention of a professional. Just my opinion.

dridas · 06-12-2016, 15:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianlara 3

As the rest of the sail is in excellent condition surely it deserves the attention of a professional. Just my opinion.

The problem is the professionals I took it to said it would be almost $1000 to repair. Meanwhile they only opened up a very small part of the sail, and did not inspect the condition of the entire sail. The professionals I took it to are very well known brand of sail maker in San Diego. In fact, they are the suppliers for catalina direct. I felt their quote and assessment was just a ploy to get me to buy a new sail.

**JPA Cate** · 06-12-2016, 15:48

Dridas,

Yes, you can give it a go. It won't add significantly to the cost of having it professionally repaired, if you do the unpicking, in the event it doesn't work out to your satisfaction. However, you really need to change things so that sail cloth is covered, so you may be replacing your "UV" strip, as well. If you want to do that, I'd give it an experiment with Weather Max 80, rather than Sunbrella. It doesn't last as long as Sunbrella, but nor will the sail last 10 yrs. The WM80 usually costs about 1/2 the sunbrella, but most importantly, weighs about 1/2, and has better chafe resistance.

Before you go to a lot of effort, though, take a regular No. 2 pencil, and see if you can drive the point through the sailcloth where you think it might be good. The pencil point will not penetrate good cloth, but will when it is rotten. Might change your perspective a bit.

Don't be too hard on the sail loft: They include taking apart the sail in the charges, which is, imo, a very tedious job, but doable, plus the time involved, and the materials. A new sail would be a lot more. However, try another sail loft, and see what their bid on the job is. This can really motivate some of us to do our own work, if we think our time is "free." However, then you get an amateur job. Life's full of compromises.

Cheers,

Ann

**Jim Cate** · 06-12-2016, 15:54

Do remember that small errors in sewing or cutting will result in a tight or floppy leech. Not the easiest repair on which to start your career as a sailmaker.

I'm not familiar with the sailmakers of SD, but in your place I'd try taking the sail to a small, independent loft. Such enterprises often have a different attitude to that of large production lofts .

Jim

dridas · 06-12-2016, 15:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Dridas,

Yes, you can give it a go. It won't add significantly to the cost of having it professionally repaired, if you do the unpicking, in the event it doesn't work out to your satisfaction. However, you really need to change things so that sail cloth is covered, so you may be replacing your "UV" strip, as well. If you want to do that, I'd give it an experiment with Weather Max 80, rather than Sunbrella. It doesn't last as long as Sunbrella, but nor will the sail last 10 yrs. The WM80 usually costs about 1/2 the sunbrella, but most importantly, weighs about 1/2, and has better chafe resistance.

Before you go to a lot of effort, though, take a regular No. 2 pencil, and see if you can drive the point through the sailcloth where you think it might be good. The pencil point will not penetrate good cloth, but will when it is rotten. Might change your perspective a bit.

Don't be too hard on the sail loft: They include taking apart the sail in the charges, which is, imo, a very tedious job, but doable, plus the time involved, and the materials. A new sail would be a lot more. However, try another sail loft, and see what their bid on the job is. This can really motivate some of us to do our own work, if we think our time is "free." However, then you get an amateur job. Life's full of compromises.

Cheers,

Ann

Ann...

Thanks for the advice. I did the number 2 pencil, and the head broke. I don't have a sharpener, so also tried to poke with a plastic fork. Couldn't poke through with either. I assume that means the current material is good.... 6-9 inches from the edge. The first 4 inches are weak and tattered.

New sail was 1300, while repair is 1000. That's the part that didn't make sense to me. Materials just to repair the edges would be less than $100, going g through sail rite.

gjordan · 06-12-2016, 16:08

I started a thread a few weeks ago called Videos on recutting sail. There was some interesting information given to me. I had called Sailrite Company and asked about a video on recutting a sail and they said they didnt have one, but someone else said there was one on Utube, and Sailrite does have a video on recutting that may answer many of your questions. If I were in your situation, I would just figure on getting rid of the sunburned area and ending up with a smaller sail. If you save the sun cover for re-use, you will have very little expense involved, so if it doesnt turn out right, you wont have lost much. The video also explains broadseaming to keep the shape. Good Luck. _____Grant.

dridas · 06-12-2016, 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by gjordan

I started a thread a few weeks ago called Videos on recutting sail. There was some interesting information given to me. I had called Sailrite Company and asked about a video on recutting a sail and they said they didnt have one, but someone else said there was one on Utube, and Sailrite does have a video on recutting that may answer many of your questions. If I were in your situation, I would just figure on getting rid of the sunburned area and ending up with a smaller sail. If you save the sun cover for re-use, you will have very little expense involved, so if it doesnt turn out right, you wont have lost much. The video also explains broadseaming to keep the shape. Good Luck. _____Grant.

Grant-
I'm pretty sure I watched that video today. It was more about straightening out a worn foot, but all the same. Not a bad idea to shorten the sail as well.

I think I'll try to repair it. I may be able to get away with putting a suncover on the bad side, and that'll hold me over until I can just replace it. I'm not opposed to getting a new sail, but would prefer to hold off until spring. I have to have the boat hauled out soon, and need to spend money on that, paint, and new seacocks.

gjordan · 06-12-2016, 16:26

The video that I watched was mostly about taking materiel of off the leach because it was damaged by flutter. It showed how to put a new leach line in and how to broadseam if needed. I dont think it went into dealing with the foot at all. I am so poor with the internet that I probably could not find it again, but someone else told me about it, so maybe they can chime in. _____Grant.

dridas · 06-12-2016, 16:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by gjordan

The video that I watched was mostly about taking materiel of off the leach because it was damaged by flutter. It showed how to put a new leach line in and how to broadseam if needed. I dont think it went into dealing with the foot at all. I am so poor with the internet that I probably could not find it again, but someone else told me about it, so maybe they can chime in. _____Grant.

Grant.... I went through your previous post. Sailrite certainly has some great videos. They have one that was about inspecting sails before the season, and that one leads to about 10 other videos. As they find areas of concern, they post a link to videos on how to fix it.

I'm going to give it a shot. Worse case scenario is that I spend 100 attempting to repair it. If I can't, I'll replace in March when I get back from some training in the desert.

Sun and Moon · 06-12-2016, 16:45

I suspect you can find a used sail for much less than $1000, so the sail loft is correct: it isn't worth repairing professionally. Repairing it yourself will give back more in entertainment value than it will cost in materials, and you might end up with a functional sail afterwards.

gjordan · 07-12-2016, 09:14

Last night I ordered a copy of CARE AND REPAIR OF SAILS by Jeremy Howard-Williams, since I need to return the library copy. It covers a lot about re-cutting. Let us know how it goes. ____Grant.

UNCIVILIZED · 07-12-2016, 10:29

Since only 4" or so of material is bad, & it's primarily on the luff, you'd probably get much better result by trimming off that material. And by better result, I mean in terms of the sail's shape now, as well as while it ages.

Since if you attach small strips of new cloth along the luff, you'll have to work hard in order to shape & sew them properly in order to get them to fully merge with the sail's (current) overall shape. Plus they'll age (stretch) differently than the body of the sail will. Due to being new, & due to being a different cloth (most likely).

Though, yes, on a sail of this size it won't be nearly the issue that it would be on a 35' boat. But unless you really, really need the tiny bit of extra horsepower that 4" of leech provides, then I say trim that bad bit off.

Edit: One other perk to nipping off that bad sail edge, is that it'll be a much simpler, & time intensive task then would picking apart the sail, & then attaching numerous tiny panels to it's aft edge. It'll still be plenty of work, especially given the rebuilding of the leech cord pocket, etc. But less than the proposed Plan A.

Also, in thinking aloud. You might inquire with a sailmaker if it would work to simply add insignia cloth on top of the sun weakened sections, & stitch it in place, perhaps along with redoing the seams on the worst of the current panels, in order to restore proper shape to the sail. This while possibly rebuilding the leech cord pocket if such also needs doing. Since I'd guess that on a sail this size, adding such cloth overtop of the current stuff would probably be strong enough. And it could be an alternative, & simple fix.

thinwater · 07-12-2016, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Since only 4" or so of material is bad, & it's primarily on the luff, you'd probably get much better result by trimming off that material. And by better result, I mean in terms of the sail's shape now, as well as while it ages. Since if you attach small strips of new cloth along the luff, you'll have to work hard in order to shape & sew them properly in order to get them to fully merge with the sail's (current) overall shape. Plus they'll age (stretch) differently than the body of the sail will. Due to being new, & due to being a different cloth (most likely).

Though, yes, on a sail of this size it won't be nearly the issue that it would be on a 35' boat. But unless you really, really need the tiny bit of extra horsepower that 4" of leech provides, then I say trim that bad bit off.

Yes, that. If cutting it down won't work, it's toast. I might actually cut it down more and save it for windy days, but I'd need a closer look.

What is it with wrong-way furling? I saw this one 2 days ago.