Who makes their own sails, and why?

Cowlum - looks like a nice job. I would strongly encourage anyone planning on giving sail making a go to use proper cloth (as it appears you have done) so that if they put in the hours of effort to make the sail that there is a reasonable result at the conclusion of the exercise instead of a beautifuly made but structurally compromised result. Unless you're doing the most basic downwind drifting the benefits of using real sailcloth would justify the expense over basic poly tarp type materials.

 

Hi,

Thanks Munter.

I agree, the dacron is not that expensive.
its approximately 15$ per meter here in NZ for 5oz which should be about $10 in the US.
The thread is about $30NZ for 3000 Meters of V-69 and the hanks I got second hand from a sailmaker. All up the jib cost me less than $200. With sewing machine and palm etc it cost ~$300nz

My main will require 12 Meters of Dacron ($180nz) and this time I already have all the tools. Though I am going to buy $100nz worth of Luff tape because I am confident in making sails now and will eventually use it all. For that jib I bought just a small amount from the same sail maker I got the hanks from.

Good materials are not that expensive.

Regards
Callum

 

Impressive work, thats a great looking Jib.

 

I'm converting a pirogue to an outrigger sailing canoe. I like trying different stuff just to see what happens and how it behaves.

FWIW, I'm starting with a white poly tarp and using double-sided carpet tape until I find some sort of heat-sealing tape to fuse the seams.

 

I've used Tyvek Tape in the past. It's pricey, but it grips fabrics and such like nothing else. It's also monogrammed and hideous.

 

Hehe...the best tape for the job that I can get my hands on is Tuck Tape. It's the stuff that's made specifically to stick to vapor barrier - probably the same stuff.
It's like packing tape on steroids but.....it's bright red and monogrammed as well.

I just can't do that.

 

I am having trouble finding double sided outdoor carpet tape, which I have found to be the best so far. I tried tuck tape a couple weeks ago and it works well. Only problem is, it's single sided, so it needs a slightly different seaming technique. I apply it to the edge of the tarp, half on and half off, then roll it to form a tube, which I flatten. Then I reinforce the seam with eyelets. Works well so far, and the eyelets are useful for rigging.

 

I've never been on a sailboat other that at boat shows.The main thing that has kept me away is that I don't like the idea of the extreme leaning as they travel.I assume that if you put 2/3 scale sails on, you would lean a lot less while traveling at half the speed of full size sails. If you did put 2/3 scale sails on to a 26 to 30 foot sailboat would you be able to reach a 4 knot speed on an average day ? Would serious sailors laugh you out of the harbor if they saw such a thing ?

 

I have no intention of going with down-sized sails. I am considering a boat that has multiple rigs depending on experience, but in the end I want it to get up and move.

If you don't like fast boats, then get a not-so-fast boat. You don't have to go as fast as the boat can go if you don't want to.

 

Well, any experience is useful, but ice boats march to such a different drummer that its probably amongst the least useful types of experience available in terms of transferring to other craft.

The leaning over bit is so intrinsic to single hull sailboats that there's no point in trying to minimise it in the way you suggest. The thing you need to do is to get rides on other peoples boats and see if you find it as objectionable in practice as it seems to you at the moment. You may find that in reality its no big deal. If on the other hand it does, in practice, turn out to be very unpleasant for you then you could maybe look at multi hulled sailboats - in many ways much closer to ice boats FWIW - or just come to the conclusion that this is not for you. Because of laws of physics complications I won't go into small sails don't help nearly as much with stopping boats tipping as one might expect.

 

fantastic series of tutorials in there

I'm sold on just making my own, thing is a few folks mentioned how important it is to have descent facilities, that bit about sowing a straight seem looks highly dependent on having a good floor to work on an a sunken sowing machine and a pit to work from

cheers
B

next question is whats a good machine

 

less expensive. can use military duck.

 

As someone who has never sailed I find the prospect of 2 large sails and a metal beam just barely over my head to be very intimidating. However I think I could enjoy trying it out with a lateen sail.Would a lateen sail be viable on a 25 to 27 foot Catalina ?