SoleCollector. Congratulations on your new sails. We previously had a
Seawind 1000 (33 ft) cat, and changed from four-year old Dacron sails to Pentex
cruise laminate. It was shocking how much better the boat pointed, and faster. We
sold that boat earlier this year, and have a
Seawind 1160 Lite (38 ft)
catamaran build just about to leave the factory in
Vietnam. We are having square top main and a jib built from same material as you - Dimension Polyant Lite Skin GPL. Two other sister ships have the sails and are very happy with performance. When I was considering what material to use for our new sails, I heard a lot of "you only need Dacron." Yeah, but I want to
cruise fast, and not just downwind, and I want sails that have the same performance shape ten years from now. Cruising fast is fun. Pointing high is fun. Settling for anything less is just that - settling.
As for the price difference questions: Our Lite Skin
mainsail and jib combo were $1600 more expensive than DP Pro Radial dacron. They were $1200 more expensive than the heavy HydraNet. Sure, you have to guard against chafe, but they are also more mildew resistant than the cruise laminate sails. Of course, Dacron is the most mildew resistant, but maintaining shape long term is going to require recuts.
Finally, David Calvert made some very nice sails for our
Corsair 28R that we owned before the first
Seawind. They were competitive, and held up well. He's also made a set of Lite Skin sails for another Forum
member, who owns a
Maine Cat 38, and he's very satisfied as well. We considered going back to David for the new Seawind, but instead stuck with Neil Tasker at Barracouta Sails in
Australia, who made our Seawind 1000 sails, has lots of experience
racing the
Seawind 1160, very familiar with the rig, and sail design development.