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Dick Posts: 434
6 days ago
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Hi all,
The following are my thoughts on sail cloth choice. These thoughts are written primarily for the cruising skipper who cares about performance, but is not a fanatic or racer, and who takes advantage of his/her sail shape controls as well as wanting his/her boat moving right along by likely having a feathering or folding prop and who keeps the boat’s bottom clean.
My personal context:
I am not a racer. I have a great sailing boat and I like to sail well and not be compromised. I have a feathering prop, I keep the bottom clean and over the years have, by casual observation, been able to sail (and chosen to sail) when others have put on their motor. Part of that is having good sails and, in casual observation, I have bought new sails a couple of years sooner than most. I am also willing to sail in light air as long as I am sailing and I am willing to spend a bit extra to ensure that my primary propulsion system is in good working order.
For much of the last 20+ years I have cruised 4-8 months a year probably averaging 5,000 miles per year. Our mainsail is always covered by an opaque cover (not regular Sunbrella).
Why good sails matter:
Good sail shape means fast sails, less heeling/more comfort and good pointing (perhaps 3-5 degrees or more): wind/gusts get translated into drive and not heeling and is easier on the autopilot. It likely is a rare occurrence, but sailing out of trouble (lee shore) might be called for.
With regards to Dacron sails
With Dacron sails, in my experience, I start to notice deteriorating sail shape as early as ~~3 years give or take: not really a big deal, but I am starting to feel a little itchy. At ~~4-6 years I am wanting new sails and trying to decide the tipping point between budget, sail performance, and personal tolerance for compromise: all while living with sailcloth that clearly has many years left to it. It is my take that most cruisers continue with sails longer than I could tolerate and pay the price with compromised performance, increased heeling, and decreasing reliability. That said, most still get to their destination and they clearly have more money in their cruising kitty.
And, I have had sails re-cut and tucks taken (no botox) and sometimes that has been worth doing, and sometimes not. All re-cuts were moderately costly (skilled labor is expensive and the job is mostly labor).
So, it follows that I did not want Dacron as its shape becomes too quickly compromised: This can be a hard decision as the sail cloth and stitching are in no way “worn out” and it can be tempting toput off new sails and just tolerate compromised performance.
With regard to laminates:
For years I had laminate sails and was quite pleased. They kept their shape well and lasted reasonably well. My only complaint was that it was hard, over the years, to keep them from folding in the same folds which contributed to laminate damage at the creases and repair necessary. This only occurred in their last years of life. Less important was the mold that accumulated at the seams: cosmetic for sure, but unsightly.
Recommendation:
Aimed at the performance-oriented cruising boat skipper who plans to keep his/her sails for a while.
HydraNet Radial sail cloth used for sails designed for the best use of the cloth’s properties: weight and strength, and then constructed radially.
For me, the important considerations were that the cloth promised long life with good sail shape. I also wanted a woven cloth that would dry as I was in the UK where life is frequently wet/damp. HN cloth has a high weight to strength ratio.
The above is achieved by using Dyneema in the weave.
HN’s only drawback is that it is extremely slippery making repair a challenge and usually demands stitching. In personal experiments, Dr. Sails, a 2 part epoxy, worked well. That said, my experience and the reports from other skippers is that field repairs, or any sort of repairs, are rare. I also carry some very aggressive double sided tape, but, fortunately, have yet to have call to put it to use.
Personal experience:
I had a suit of sails (main, staysail, jib topsail) made from HydraNet Radial (there are different types of HydraNet cloth) in the UK in 2012 which we now have used for ~~11 seasons (covid stole 1½ years and illness one other) which includes one higher latitude Atlantic crossing and maybe 18,000 miles give or take a couple thousand. In this time, there has been only one repair: operator error and not the sail’s fault. I consider the sail shape still as good as new and suspect there are years of life left
Cost
I see comments about longevity of sails and comments about expenditure. Longevity really needs to be defined and defining is not easy. Longevity for me is how long the sails do the job and doing the job is dependent on good sail shape. Expenditure is basically how long a sail keeps its shape: usually measured in years, but probably more accurately measured in sea miles under sail.
I am now using, and happy with, HydraNet Radial sails that have lasted twice as long as I would have been happy with Dacron sails and 30% longer than my laminate sails lasted. The end is not in sight, so I expect that the sails will last a few more seasons at least: perhaps longer. This seems in-line with friends and other skippers who have HN sails.
Finally:
More specifically, I am getting clear that sail cloth choice is one area where you can have your cake and eat it to. I already have a lot of years (9-11 seasons) and a lot of miles (~~18,000 perhaps) on my HydraNet Radial sails and their shape is still as new. I would guess I am maybe a bit over half way through their life. So, I believe that you can have excellent sails of HydraNet and save money over Dacron in the long run, because Dacron sails would not come close to retaining their shape.
A note about sail lofts:
Sail lofts sometimes have their own in-house cloth which they, of course, wish to build sails with and they also sometimes have relationships with sail cloth makers that induce them to push a certain cloth. It is my understanding that HN cloth can be sourced by any sailmaker making the choice clean of potential bias.
Sail lofts are often manned by sales people who come to the job from racing and are ignorant of the practices and concern of cruising sailors. In this way there is a bias toward speed which can (and has) led to recommendations that may not be best for a cruising sailor: say sail cloth choice. (This most often occurs when these sales people recommend light air sails that are far larger than most cruising couples want to grapple with: especially offshore.)
And, not all sailmakers have experience designing and working with HNR cloth, so do research into the loft.
Come back with questions, thoughts, comments.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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