ebb
04-12-2021, 11:31 AM
If you are looking for a sail maker,
DO NOT ORDER FROM PEAK SAILS NORTH AMERICA
They have a very sophisticated website. They show 5 star reviews, but a clue that
something's up is their cheaper prices. They have no address in the US. They have
phone numbers or a numer of phones that seem to change location.
Conformation comes when you check Peak Sails NA on BBB. Where customers
complain of wrong sizes, waiting forever, never receiving sails after payment,
and never hearing back phone calls.
Whether all the complaints are legit is overshadowed by the number of complaints.
BBB show Peak Sails answering some of their bad practices. When they mention
their 42,000sqft(?) sailloft or the troubles that HK is having with the dictatorship
take over, the words don't indicate a large loft, but a sweatshop that can't keep it
together. It's an elaborate scam. Or something else, of course.
Give your local independent sailmaker your custom.
Give Peak Sails North America a w i d e berth..
__________________________________________________ ________________
[EBB'S ARIEL HAS AN EXTRAORDINARY SUIT OF CRUISING SAILS BY CAROL HASSSE
-- RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL SAILS
-- GO TO NEXT POST FOR A DESCRIPTION.]
FINALLY CLUED I HAD TO OBSOLETE THE TROGEAR WISHBONE BOWSPRIT
It's not designed to share the bow with an anchor roller. I began looking at Trogear
installation photos -- not a single one had a roller,. some without line chocks.
Even tho the sprit is $$$ carbon fiber, beautifully made, light as a feather, it didn't
belong on a cruising sailboat. (Sorry guys)
It just happened that after I decided to go with a bowsprit that allowed a heavy-
duty anchor-roller to also mount over the bow: modern aluminum tube and carbon
fibre sprits appeared on the web, none made in the US. They're Australian - Forspar,
Brit - Selden, and Sparcraft-Facnor - French. We have to deal with vendors reading
from prompt cards and sounding inexperienced..
(Haven't found a cogent discussion on these. But we do have Darrell Nicholson in
the form of Practical Sailor, as the only one brave enough to speak*. Even so,
if you are interested, you can't assume anything. I never looked at Forspar's --
maybe to my detriment, my choice went between Selden and Facnor. Facnor
has a single page packed with pinky-nail illustrations and terse description of
their four sprits for a range of yachts. No other info available.))
*Extending the Bow: Are Add-on Sprit Kits Worth It.) Practical Sailor 2008.
Spent time noodling Selden, because Hasse chose a Selden furler for my Drifter.
Could not find an outer end fitting with a bail for a bob stay. Selden sprits are
reefing. 6-7-8' retractable tubes not designed for bobstays.
Became zeroed in on Facnor because they seemed to have an easy system to
remove the pole from the bow to a less crowded spot on deck or below. Also had
an end fitting for the 'bridle' (bobstay). Facnors cannot be reefed. Even tho
P.S. says they're 'retractable' . Their deck hardware is 4 bolted and the end and
central rings are quickly snap-slide removable. The poles are shorter. The one
I've chosen is about 5 1/2 feet total. My Trogear extended 3' -- and the
Drifter was measured to that. It also has a Dyneema bobstay. But I'll only get
2 1/2' at most.. Hasse warned the Drifter will have to go back to the Loft.
Having fun figuring out what kind of shared extension BRACE/BRACKET** can
be designed for the anchor roller AND the central collar for the Facnor pole.
Added weight IN FRONT/FORWARD of the bow is a huge concern.
**The support is to create more outboard for the a.roller which has to cantilever
far beyond reason, because when housed the anchor blade can't foul the hull.
-- 2ndly, next to the roller support but on the other side of the bow, bowsprit
with its central ring must be fixed forward of the bow to hold and support the
furling drifter.
One side has to tame suspended DOWN forces from anchor and warp, the other
side supports UP and SIDE LOADS from a dynamic sail. Self furling drifter only
safe to 15 kts. Cannot be left up, must be removed after furling. By ME! ! ! ! !
Darrell mentions in one of the articles a great snap-shackle and an I-fitting
Profurl(Fr) has for ONE-HANDED un-hooking/attaching of the drifter's furler from
the bowsprit. No pix, no link. [Foil-less Furlers Test - PracticalSailor 2011]
Realize I'll release the halyard and grab handfulls of the furled drifter inboard, it's
just the cussed image of old bones careened over the pulpit fumbling with a ring-
pin in a snap-shackle that suddenly releases and shoots into the briney deep..
All because I HAD this unreasonable yearning for litlgull to morph into a cutter..
DO NOT ORDER FROM PEAK SAILS NORTH AMERICA
They have a very sophisticated website. They show 5 star reviews, but a clue that
something's up is their cheaper prices. They have no address in the US. They have
phone numbers or a numer of phones that seem to change location.
Conformation comes when you check Peak Sails NA on BBB. Where customers
complain of wrong sizes, waiting forever, never receiving sails after payment,
and never hearing back phone calls.
Whether all the complaints are legit is overshadowed by the number of complaints.
BBB show Peak Sails answering some of their bad practices. When they mention
their 42,000sqft(?) sailloft or the troubles that HK is having with the dictatorship
take over, the words don't indicate a large loft, but a sweatshop that can't keep it
together. It's an elaborate scam. Or something else, of course.
Give your local independent sailmaker your custom.
Give Peak Sails North America a w i d e berth..
__________________________________________________ ________________
[EBB'S ARIEL HAS AN EXTRAORDINARY SUIT OF CRUISING SAILS BY CAROL HASSSE
-- RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL SAILS
-- GO TO NEXT POST FOR A DESCRIPTION.]
FINALLY CLUED I HAD TO OBSOLETE THE TROGEAR WISHBONE BOWSPRIT
It's not designed to share the bow with an anchor roller. I began looking at Trogear
installation photos -- not a single one had a roller,. some without line chocks.
Even tho the sprit is $$$ carbon fiber, beautifully made, light as a feather, it didn't
belong on a cruising sailboat. (Sorry guys)
It just happened that after I decided to go with a bowsprit that allowed a heavy-
duty anchor-roller to also mount over the bow: modern aluminum tube and carbon
fibre sprits appeared on the web, none made in the US. They're Australian - Forspar,
Brit - Selden, and Sparcraft-Facnor - French. We have to deal with vendors reading
from prompt cards and sounding inexperienced..
(Haven't found a cogent discussion on these. But we do have Darrell Nicholson in
the form of Practical Sailor, as the only one brave enough to speak*. Even so,
if you are interested, you can't assume anything. I never looked at Forspar's --
maybe to my detriment, my choice went between Selden and Facnor. Facnor
has a single page packed with pinky-nail illustrations and terse description of
their four sprits for a range of yachts. No other info available.))
*Extending the Bow: Are Add-on Sprit Kits Worth It.) Practical Sailor 2008.
Spent time noodling Selden, because Hasse chose a Selden furler for my Drifter.
Could not find an outer end fitting with a bail for a bob stay. Selden sprits are
reefing. 6-7-8' retractable tubes not designed for bobstays.
Became zeroed in on Facnor because they seemed to have an easy system to
remove the pole from the bow to a less crowded spot on deck or below. Also had
an end fitting for the 'bridle' (bobstay). Facnors cannot be reefed. Even tho
P.S. says they're 'retractable' . Their deck hardware is 4 bolted and the end and
central rings are quickly snap-slide removable. The poles are shorter. The one
I've chosen is about 5 1/2 feet total. My Trogear extended 3' -- and the
Drifter was measured to that. It also has a Dyneema bobstay. But I'll only get
2 1/2' at most.. Hasse warned the Drifter will have to go back to the Loft.
Having fun figuring out what kind of shared extension BRACE/BRACKET** can
be designed for the anchor roller AND the central collar for the Facnor pole.
Added weight IN FRONT/FORWARD of the bow is a huge concern.
**The support is to create more outboard for the a.roller which has to cantilever
far beyond reason, because when housed the anchor blade can't foul the hull.
-- 2ndly, next to the roller support but on the other side of the bow, bowsprit
with its central ring must be fixed forward of the bow to hold and support the
furling drifter.
One side has to tame suspended DOWN forces from anchor and warp, the other
side supports UP and SIDE LOADS from a dynamic sail. Self furling drifter only
safe to 15 kts. Cannot be left up, must be removed after furling. By ME! ! ! ! !
Darrell mentions in one of the articles a great snap-shackle and an I-fitting
Profurl(Fr) has for ONE-HANDED un-hooking/attaching of the drifter's furler from
the bowsprit. No pix, no link. [Foil-less Furlers Test - PracticalSailor 2011]
Realize I'll release the halyard and grab handfulls of the furled drifter inboard, it's
just the cussed image of old bones careened over the pulpit fumbling with a ring-
pin in a snap-shackle that suddenly releases and shoots into the briney deep..
All because I HAD this unreasonable yearning for litlgull to morph into a cutter..