Challenge sail cloth recommendation

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Kestrahl

DP doesn't make a cloth called 'premium grade cruising'. So not useful information unless you know what cloth it actually was.
Their base dacron used to be called TNF and was very average, but that was a few years ago now.
All of them are capable of making good and bad cloth depending on price level.

You may have noticed, or not, my use of small letters which implies not using a brand name of the cloth. In the leaflet delivered with the sails, the sailmaker desribes the cloth as 'premium grade cruising polyester from German cloth manufacturer Dimension Polyant' (translated). The sails being made around 2002 I doubt we can today look up on what that phrase meant in respect of DP's present offer.

Long story short, the sails: a) stretched (sailmaker's error) b) got severely affected by the UV (in less than 15k Nm of navigation = less than two years of use). And we do use Sunbrela sail covers when docked, like anybody else.

As you said, all of them make various grades of cloth, we paid for premium DP cloth and yet it did not deliver premium performance.

b.

[Kestrahl]

Premium normally means they don't want to tell you what it actually is.. "premium US dacron" is a good one i've seen used.

[CarlF]

The OP's question is based on his sailmaker's claim that Marblehead cloth does not have good UV resistance. Huh???

As this sailmaker seems confused about the cloth price,, he may not be the most reliable source.

My understanding is that Marblehead cloth is designed to the specs of the legendary Hood cloth of thirty years ago (thus the Marblehead name). Those Hood sails could last 10+ years.

The same quality cloth with heavier fill yarns is Challenge "High Aspect"

[Kestrahl]

Hood dacron, 10+ years, try 20+ years and you still see them on around the world cruising yachts. Hood sailcloth no longer exists. As far as I can tell the weave density is very similar but that is where the similarity ends, its not the same.
Now there is LA marblehead and HA marblehead. Its not simply called "High Aspect".