Suit of Sails

[ebb]

Anybody have an idea what a complete new set of sails for
a (cruising) Ariel will cost these days?

What sailloft to approach?
Quantum. Doyle. Hood. North. Carol Hesse, Pineapple, Hong Kong?

What would be minimum as a full set?
Main. Staysail. 100% jib. 130%, 150%, Genneker. Stormsail, Spitfire. ???

[Ariel 109]

Ebb,

I don't know how useful this link would be for you. But it does give some ideal of sail prices and options.

http://www.sailritesails.com/ShowAd.aspx?id=4646&sourceid=39

[Commander 147]

Ebb

I've done some pricing for sails for my commander but my sails are not designed for crusing long distance. That said here are some of the numbers I got back for the sails I'm looking at.

I should also note that while I did get cheaper prices from a sail maker in California the one I plan to go with is the local (St Petersburg, FL) Doyle loft. Because he is local the guy from Doyle will come and measure my boat himself so I don't have to take responsibility for the measurements. And after the sails are done he will come sailing with me to make sure everything is setting correctly. If not he will fix it. So that was worth a small premium to me.

Mainsail = $1316.00
110 jib = $816.00
155 genoa = $987.00
stormsail = $495.00

The main is a 7oz dacron with 2 reef points, 2 std. battens, and two full battens, with slides, headboard, moderate girth, insignia, adjustable leech line, tell tails, draft lines and bag.

The 110 is a 6oz dacron with UV cover, tell tail windows and tell tails, draft stripes and sail bag.

The other head sails are set up similarly.

Hope that helps a bit

[ebb]

Thanks for the quick replys!

Sailrite IS an option for sure. Thanks Ben.
A mainsail kit EG is less than half that of Doyle. To be expected.
DIY sails would require a DIY sewing machine, $$$, and TIME.
Not to forget a place to work on the sails.

Jerry touches on the "extras", the add-ons, of new sails.
Any hand work like roping and sewing in rings, reef points could be done by the owner. Maybe.

Can see the cost skyrocketing to $5000, NO PROBLEM!:eek:

[Tony G]

Ebb

Somewhere in this forum is a post from sheee... 5 years ago.... I got a loose footed, full battened main with a tides track system, cunningham, reef points, tell tales, leeech lines a 135% roller and obligatory UV strip made of vectran all for a bit over $3k through Super Duper Joe Cooper at Hood. Since then we've changed our sailing desires and now we need a third set of reef points in the main. I skipped the hull number but will add the logo. Gonna measure for a asymetrical (multi-purpose genoa) once the bow sprit is solidified. I have 4 or 5 hank on headsails one of which we will have recut to make a sail for the solent stay.

[CapnK]

I'm no fan of traditional 'roller snarlers', per se, having installed and run them I've seen the problems that they can and do cause, as well as the ease they can offer. But I have found myself seriously considering the system linked below because it seems to me to offer the best of both hank-on *and* roller-furling worlds.

It allows you to roller furl, but the gear is made such that there is no way that the roller line can override itself and jam. There is less of a chance of the system getting stuffed up right when you need it to be working most, and the sails are not mounted in a luff track, making them difficult if not impossible to get down in a hurry when 'things go from bad to worse' - in that case, the whole sail will drop to the deck when you release the halyard, just like a hank-on sail. There is some extra cost involved in the sail building, as your sail will need a high-modulus synthetic line added to the luff, but considering, that is not that great a cost. And when in use, the sail in effect becomes a headstay, a nice redundancy.

Might be able to work with a sail maker, and come up with a Frankensail that would even be somewhat reefable with this getup? I dunno... But being able to quickly furl the sail before dropping it might be preferable to dropping it and then wrestling those yards of fabric into a manageable bundle when the wind is howling.

Might be something to consider, when pricing (a set of) headsails.

http://www.colligomarine.com/Furlers.htm

[Commander 147]

Kurt

I chartered a Catalina on Lake Superior in the Aposle Islands that had a continuous loop furler similar to the one you show. And while the one you show may be a vast improvement over the one on the charter boat, I can tell you they are not without faults either. A couple of things to consider if you are considering one. First since you have two lines going back to the cockpit from the bow you will eat up precious side deck and even bow space with the added line. Next because you have twice as many lines going back to the cockpit you have twice as many blocks to guide those lines and twice the fiction caused by those blocks. And in the case of the one we used while it did not jump the track at the bow it certainly did at the end near the cockpit. And as Murfy's law requires it was at the worst possible moment. We were in 25 knot sustained winds with gusts going easily over 30 knots and we could not furl the jib without disassembling the roller assembly near the cockpit. The line was jambed in really good. With the unit you are considering you could drop the jib but getting it all the way down without a downhaul (yet another line to lead aft) would require going forward and the way we were bouncing around on the waves that day that would be a precarious situation also.

The only thing I'm saying is that everything has it's good and bad points and I'm not sure there is a really good solution to our age old problem. We just have to decide which set of bad points we are willing to live with.

[CapnK]

Thanks for the input, Jerry! Trust me when I say that I'm sure that they aren't perfect (like us, right? ;) ), but I am interested in the possibility of having the good parts of roller furling capability *without* having to deal with headsails on foils, or recalcitrant spools of (inaccessible) line. It's a good thing that so many racers are using these expensive bits, helping debug them for us cruising sailors. :)

Thread hijack: I am also looking hard at the Dux hi-mod synthetics for rigging the boat later this year, since Katie's SST rig is of an indeterminate age and usage... If using the above system, it would almost be a necessity, at least for the forestay, since every time the headsail was up and well tensioned, the forestay would become a little loose, and that would lead to work-hardening and a higher resultant possibility of failure.

I have a query out for the fellow who owns that company right now about what they've been getting for feedback as regards UV damage over time with their materials. By now, they should have some rigs in the tropics or near there enough, that have been up for well over 5 years, to give the rest of us an idea if it really is feasible stuff for cruisers.

From what I've read, superrigger :) Brion Toss has it on his boat. To my mind, that speaks volumes about its usability. That said, he *is* a PNW guy...