Stack pack/bolt rope seam repair

[Madwand]

I am new to stack packs. The Catalina 30 I just acquired has one and toward the end of the boom I have found two 4 inch rips in the fabric that is sewn on to the sail and the stack pack and which also contains the bolt rope.

Can this be repaired with a simple zig zag lock stitch by hand? Or does it require a patch? Or complete replacement?

[Paul L]

You'll get better responses on this if you include some pictures. You can always make a temp repair by hand.

[Madwand]

I forgot to take pictures of it and my boat is 2 weeks away, I was just hoping that was enough information. Thanks.

[JPA Cate]

I agree with Paul L that pictures would help, without them, it's just a stab in the dark.

If it is really a tear, rather than chafe damage, you might be able to hand-stitch it with a herringbone stitch, rather fine, and it might work, as long as the fabric is still good. If it is the sail cloth itself that is finished, you will be able to tear it easily by hand.

Generally, you do those kinds of repairs by cutting out the damaged area with a hot knife, and making your patch with about 2.5 cm over lap (~1"), with about a 4 mm zig-zag stitch at both edges.

The OP might be able to use sticky back sailcloth for a temporary repair. Clean the surfaces with acetone, then apply the sailcloth to both sides.

Ann

[barnakiel]

Boltrope rips are often repaired with about one inch overlap of finer dacron each side of the rip. You need a special foot to do this properly but you can just do this by hand if you are patient enough and the rip is not extensive.

If the spot is force loaded, fix it properly. If it is at a non-stressed spot just fix it to avoid further damage.

b.

[Madwand]

It is the one and a half inch section of fabric on the bolt rope that attaches to the sail and the stack pack cover. It is the only fabric that you can see when you lift up the stack pack cover above the rope track.

[tikirawker]

i'm going by your explanation only...
I had a similar issue.
I tried hand stitching and a windy day took care of that attempt.
So I took the sail down and took it to a guy that repairs sails.
He did a great job and restitched the entire stackpack/sail.
so far it has worked well.

[PuttingDoctor]

I had a boltrope tear on my genoa and sent it to Mack Sails. They under promised and over delivered. Great folks.

[Madwand]

So here is what I was talking about.

[JPA Cate]

Good pics, Madwand.

To me, the tape itself looks rotten, and the slot for the reefing line might be better off if it had had a bigger hole made, and finished off. Because of the condition of the tape, I don't think just sewing it up will last, although you might try sliding some binding tape under it, and using the tape to sister in a mend that will close the edges. This will be fiddly to do, and due to the rot in the tape might just pull out wholesale.

I don't know how to do a temporary fix, and would take it to a sailmaker for review. It may not be that expensive to replace the whole bolt rope tape, if the condition of the sail warrants it. If the cloth of the sail is still good, maybe you can get by with just a little re-stitching, but even those two bottom rows of stitching don't look great. Ah, well, be glad you live somewhere the sailing's sunny!

Good luck with it.

Ann

[Madwand]

I think where you are saying that it looks rotten is mostly that it is dirty, but then maybe it ripped because it was rotten. I'm going to attempt a lockstitch zigzag repair on them now. Can't hurt to try. If not, I will have to pull the whole sail and bag out.

[Madwand]

Another thing is that my boat is in Gulfport Mississippi and there is not canvas place willing to do the work within a hundred miles. Southern Stitch, which is in Gulfport, has only one person sewing for the entire industry.

[AD28]

There are several canvas houses on MS coast:

Jean at Mainland Canvas, Gautier, MS (228) 522-3232

Dina at Coast Canvasworks, Ocean Springs, MS 228-872-2600

There's a girl named 'Unhae' (? Un-hay) works out of Long Beach, MS. Ask at the LBYC, she was a member there

[Madwand]

None of them come up under a Google search for canvas repair are sail repair Mississippi. For some reason only Southern Stitch keeps coming up. I will try these new ones, thank you. I need my entire Dodger and Bimini replaced.

[Madwand]

Kind of sloppy, but we'll see if it'll do.