linen as a sail material.

that's a bit different, from a stability standpoint, than what i'm thinking of.

 

I'd figure getting 'proper' fabric weave might be more

important than plain 'weight' as I'm pretty sure sail cloth was a whole different animal than bedsheets or drapes, or whatever they use linen for today. tablecloths?

 

PS my sail cloth seems quite high thread count, dense

and thin at the same time. More like a solid material sheet than any fabric I've ever worn.

 

well, most of the old books that refer to linen as a material describe the cloth as a heavy canvas, specifically a double woven linen.

might need to be done custom.

*off to look up plans for a loom*

 

the material was a minimum 560 thread per inch, according to one old book i have.

 

While linen sails may be a problem , linen LINE , for sheets is a dream come true.

I have had the pleasure of sailing on a boat that was equipped with linen and the lines were so soft on the hands as to be almost unbelieveable.

It also flattens on a winch so 2 turns will hold where 4 is needed with modern plastic.

Most enjoyable is a WET length of 5/8 or 3/4 line will fold easily and lay to both sides of your hand.

Good stuff , but I haven't seen any in 30 years!

FF

 

The best reference I have found for "pre-synthetic" sailmaking is "Yacht Sails" by Terence North (Scribners, 1939). A bit hard to find, but worth the effort of looking.

Cheers,

Earl

 

you're right. hard book to chase down.

 

i might have thinned it down that i'm gonna need to make my own. this could be interesting.

 

okay, revising what i said earlier. yes, double woven, yes, 560 threads minimum, but that 560 doesn't count the doubling. so technically it's in the realm of 1000 threads per inch.

 

Hi,
when learning to sail about 40 years ago on a 1912 Mersea Rivers Class, the owner had the original linen spinnaker still on the boat. We used the sail on a number of occasions and it was a beautifully setting sail. The weight was about 3 oz and it had been treated to prevent rot. It was only used in light winds up to about 10 kts and the owner finally retired it in the mid eighties. Flax sails were known to stretch more in use than cotton sails so could not set as flat and were relegated to obscurity when cotton cloth became easily available for sailmaking and was used in racing. I believe that this is one of the reasons that the schooner America won the first 100 guineas cup and started the Americas Cup, she had cotton sails and the English boats had flax sails and could not point to windward with her because of the bagginess of the sails. Dacron cloth stretches even less than cotton so can set flatter and point better than cotton. Flax should be OK for reaching or running sails though.
David

 

dsuursoo,

This comment reflects my suggestion that stability, as in cloth stability, will be an issue. I have had early Dacron sails that stretched too much to hold a decent shape to windward. I have never sailed with anything pre Dacron so I can't comment from direct experience but you'd have to think that Dacron provided a sufficient advantage over these older materials and I know that Dacron sails can get quite out of shape. You may find them OK when new, maybe the compromise is a relatively short service life but I can't imagine that stretch would not become a problem. As David said, with downwind sails its not such an issue. Then again I guess a lot hinges on the boat itself and what you expect in terms of windward performance.

 

it's odd, that linen would be said to have a greater stretch than cotton. my experience has pointed in the opposite direction, but maybe it's just my usage.

one of the old books points(robert kipping's book) that no1 linen canvas for sails would weigh in at 46 pounds per bolt 40 yards by 24 inches.

that's a bit more than 3oz/yard, closer to 6 ounces per square foot. that might have an effect on stretch. a fair bit on the winds it could sail in. definetly not wind-speed sails.

 

well, flax canvas(linen) would have greater weight than dacron, for the same lack of stretch(6-8 ounces per yard minimum to as much as a pound, modern dacron/kevlar/whatever is what, 2oz or less?), but i think this would only be important in a racing boat.

it's curiosity mainly at this point, but curiosity is the reason i've been redesigning the plans for my next multihull to take a variety of sails and masts, curiosity. finding what works best, and exploring old techniques(they got by quite well for centuries on them, so what's so wrong with them?)

 

I'm not sure how linen sails would work in a multihull, but personally I'm interested about the subject and the possibility to make a few sails myself during winter months.. It's too cold anyway to build the boat.. And it's (someday I hope) gaff rigged Cutketchooner (I got to make up my mind eventually)