Radial Main Sailcloth Material

[Ostinato]

One thing to ask when considering cloth more exotic that 100% dacron is how the panels are sealed when they are cut. My understanding is that Hydranet requires special equipment to be done right and that many lofts send their designs to Dimension-Polyant (the clothes manufacturer) to be cut.

[davecalvert]

Originally Posted by Ostinato

One thing to ask when considering cloth more exotic that 100% dacron is how the panels are sealed when they are cut. My understanding is that Hydranet requires special equipment to be done right and that many lofts send their designs to Dimension-Polyant (the clothes manufacturer) to be cut.

Dimension Polyant is only a sail cloth manufacturer and supplier, they do not cut or plot sail panels.
Hydra Net, as well as other woven and some laminates, like cruise Carbon, may frey when cut. But, the cut edges are not sealed. Once the panels are taped and sewn, the issue should only be a slightly cosmetic one.

[AD28]

I don't think that some of the inhabitants of this thread know who Dave Calvert is... Mr Calvert is a famous multihull-specialized sailmaker, and does know a thing or two

[Kestrahl]

Originally Posted by Ostinato

One thing to ask when considering cloth more exotic that 100% dacron is how the panels are sealed when they are cut. My understanding is that Hydranet requires special equipment to be done right and that many lofts send their designs to Dimension-Polyant (the clothes manufacturer) to be cut.

A Laser cutter seals the edges as it cuts, if done with a pizza wheel cutter then the edges should be heat sealed with a hot knife after cutting.

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by davecalvert

Dimension Polyant is only a sail cloth manufacturer and supplier, they do not cut or plot sail panels.
Hydra Net, as well as other woven and some laminates, like cruise Carbon, may frey when cut. But, the cut edges are not sealed. Once the panels are taped and sewn, the issue should only be a slightly cosmetic one.

At one point DP owned a loft but it has since been sold.

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by OceanSeaSpray

There is a brilliant book about sailmaking and modern materials available as a free PDF (at the moment anyway) from the author .

I own a copy of that book along with many others about sailmaking. It's very much out of date so not too useful a source of information about cloth that is currently available.