Do you Carry two Mains?

[sully75]

28' Pearson Triton. It came with a "cruising" Main by Quantum that has been great. Battens are longish (one full length) and get caught in the lazyjacks, but that's mostly a lazy jack problem (very poorly rigged).

There's another Main. I've never had it out of the bag. I just pulled it off the boat. I notice it has slugs on it vs. track fittings. So...currently it won't work with the boat. I'm not sure if it is actually a Triton main to begin with.

Anyway, I'm wondering if I should be carrying two mains anyway, even if it worked. It takes up a ton of space. That said, I like to be prepared for anything.

On a boat of that size, would you carry a 2nd main? My other sail inventory currently is a working jib on roller furling, which is pretty much all I use and a roller furling genoa, which I pretty much never use. I have a storm jib that's hank on, quite old, I'm not sure if it's worth having it converted. Some sort of drifter of questionable origin and fit, with some rips. Might give it a go.

Hoping to add some sort of assymetrical this year.

Anyway. Two mains? Do you carry a spare?

[Pete7]

Nah, you like us just don't have the space on board. Ours came with a spare Genoa and main, turned out the Genoa was for a different boat and far too big - both sold via e bay.

If you can find somewhere clean and dry like a squash court them open it up and measure it plus take some photos. You can then decide to keep or sell it next spring when the mad rush starts again and people will buy anything.

However, I bet it never gets used.

Pete

[Pete7]

Oh and keep the storm jib hank on. If you really do need it hank on will be simple to rig and even in more gentle conditions if your roller furling should fail, then an independant hank on sail even a small one could be a godsend.

Pete

[Seaworthy Lass]

No spare main, but lots of sail repair gear on board - Dacron tape, 3m of new sail fabric, double sided tape, both V92 and V138 thread and Tenara, Sailrite sewing machine with a hand wheel, plus all the gear required for sewing repairs by hand.

I think the capacity to repair existing sails is a better option than carrying spares. Apart from the cost, space to store spare sails is generally an issue on cruising vessels .

[scoobert]

if i was going to keep an extra sail i would keep an extra headsail. we currently have a 150, 110, and a 74. thou to be honest i am thinking of having a spare main in 2015 when we start our world cruise.

[jeremiason]

We didn't carry a back-up main while we were cruising. We did have to repair it once, but it was done fairly quickly and you can always fall back on a jib only.

[barnakiel]

We carry two but we sail long distances.

Inshore, I would carry only one, if a sloop.

b.

[beetle]

yes, i do carry two mainsails. I figure I have various headsails & spinnakers on board, and can shift to a different sail if one breaks and needs to be repaired. And the one sail that is up the most (the main) most folks do not carry a backup for.

So when I had the new main built, I also had the prior main looked at by the sailmaker, repairs made, and folded it up and put it below.

You may also be able to use a no. 4 headsail as a main if you install the sail with the leech as the luff (and add appropriate hardware to attach the leech to the mast).

- rob/beetle

[stillbuilding]

Lots of racers will have a competition mainsail and a delivery mainsail for getting to the event.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by beetle

You may also be able to use a no. 4 headsail as a main if you install the sail with the leech as the luff (and add appropriate hardware to attach the leech to the mast).

- rob/beetle

+1!

Ours is rigged with slides and hanks and we can use it either up the mast or else the more regular way up its forestay.

b.

[zeehag]

i carry but one main and i do not use it much. i thought i had 2 spare jibs vs a jib and potential mizzen--free sails gifted by a dear friend long ago---turned out i had a weird sail of strange antique material--and a OMG!!!!! spare mizzen that work even better than my regular one....
had mike allegedly north sails in la cruz de huanacaxtle,nayarit, mexico repair my jib, and now i have to have a different sailmaker remove the gusset he placed not realizing a roller furling jib sacrificial is part of a sail, not extra strangeness to flap in breezes, thus creating a somewhat less than 80 percent jib from a 100 percenter...bad mikey.
good thing hogin sail sis spozedly here...during high season, as i have 2 sails for his hands and machines to make well again.