Florida Sail Loft Bad Juju

[Gone Gypsy]

Looking for a new Dacron 120% furling genoa for our Macintosh 47 here in Florida. We have sailed a bunch but this is only the second new sail we’ve every ordered.

Read plenty of good referrals for Mack sail. They had a good price and a 16 week lead time. They use Challenge cloth and would mitre cut the Genoa.

I was impressed by the German woven Dimension Polyant material used by Sail Technology. Competitive price and much shorter lead time and at least one positive referral. From what I have read this is probably a better cloth. Cross cut design. Both of these lofts build the sails in their facilities here in Florida. I like that.

Talked with the folks at North Sail. Good marketing, the highest price (double almost) and a long lead time. I’m having a hard justifying their price for a cruising sail.

What I wasn’t ready for was all the negative talk FROM sail lofts ABOUT OTHER sail lofts. Everyone’s got a negative comment about their competition.

Had sort of made up my mind to use Sail Technology. Liked their cloth and responses. Then got essentially a warning to stay away from them by another loft.

Anyone have experience with Sail Technology? Mack?

Hoping to make a decision in the next couple days. Thanks Cruisers!

[Trvlmedic]

Couldn’t be happier with my Mack main and jib. My catamaran has never sailed better. Travis Mack and his crew will treat you right.

[Bill O]

If you want DP material, try Evolution Sails in Deltaville Va. We have a radial design genoa made w/the DP Pro Radial material and it has held up nicely for many years.

[freshalaska]

I recently had a sail recut and a new main built by Sail Technologies and was pretty happy with the price and work, product. They are not the greatest at getting things done when they indicate they will be done as they have trouble with hiring good help which can slow things down.

[chris mac]

Originally Posted by Bill O

If you want DP material, try Evolution Sails in Deltaville Va. We have a radial design genoa made w/the DP Pro Radial material and it has held up nicely for many years.

They did our newmain sail. Fantastic job and excellent customer service. Going back to them this year for a new head sail

[Chotu]

My guess is because some sail lofts are so hit or miss.

I have had nothing but awful experiences with Mack sails (as a rigger). A complete waste of time.

I would love to report on the quality of their work but they don’t do any.

It was very frustrating. Travis Mack Will only respond here and there and I had even met him in person at a boat show. I had tried to use them for years as my rigger. I’m not even kidding. Years. I have been talking to him for years. He would respond and sort of start, then he would be gone and I would never hear from him. Then I would reach out again and he would sort of respond and sort of get started then he would disappear again. I tried to hire them for rigging, sail making. It was a complete waste of my time. And obviously this was a very worthwhile project. Not cheap.

It was especially frustrating because their name was all over my rig. They did all the work on the used rig I bought. They also did a lot of work on a sister ship of mine. So they had all of the information already. That’s the craziest part.

Yet, there are plenty of satisfied customers as well.

If you look at reviews online, they have five stars and then they have one star. Five stars and then two stars.

In the end it worked out because I have somebody that is so much better. It would’ve actually been a mistake to go with them as compared to the guy I ended up with, which I’m doing a full report on after we are done. Excited to share him with the multihull community.

[siamese]

Twice, I've had the experience of ordering a set of sails for a new to me boat. One, a Precision 23, and the other a Catalina 28. Ordered each set in the fall, and in the spring they had lost the order and had not fabricated the sails. Long delay in getting the sails each time.

Getting the sail slugs right for the mainsail after the sail arrived and didn't fit on the 28 was a bizarre nightmare. I'd talk to him on the phone in the morning, and when I needed to talk to him a little later in the day, he wouldn't know who I was or have any recollection of what we'd talked about when I reminded him of the previous conversation. Happened multiple times. I finally asked the woman who was answering the phone and putting me through to him what the heck was going on with the Twilight Zone experience. Of course, she couldn't tell me much, but agreed that experiences like mine were not exceptional.

I can only relate my personal experience, and say that I would never order sails there again. YMMV. I don't doubt that some customers are happy with their service, as I believe they're capable of building a good sail, but I would describe his behavior as sporadic. And when it's off, it's way off.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by siamese

Twice, I've had the experience of ordering a set of sails for a new to me boat. One, a Precision 23, and the other a Catalina 28. Ordered each set in the fall, and in the spring they had lost the order and had not fabricated the sails. Long delay in getting the sails each time.

Getting the sail slugs right for the mainsail after the sail arrived and didn't fit on the 28 was a bizarre nightmare. I'd talk to him on the phone in the morning, and when I needed to talk to him a little later in the day, he wouldn't know who I was or have any recollection of what we'd talked about when I reminded him of the previous conversation. Happened multiple times. I finally asked the woman who was answering the phone and putting me through to him what the heck was going on with the Twilight Zone experience. Of course, she couldn't tell me much, but agreed that experiences like mine were not exceptional.

I can only relate my personal experience, and say that I would never order sails there again. YMMV.

Where was this? That sounds identical to my Travis Mack experiences.

[Jim Cate]

^^^^^
Ummm, just which loft are you talking about?

Jim

[siamese]

Sorry...I was talking about my experience with Mack.

[Boatguy30]

Where are you in Florida? Any sailmaker is generally going to want to measure the rig themselves or make sure you are able to provide extremely accurate dimensions on what's not a super common boat. I sell sails for both Mack and UK Chicago. I would generally recommend the UK of you're more performance oriented.

[Snore]

I purchased my jib from North and six months later, my main from Sail Tech.

Why did I go to Sail Tech?

• Everytime I went into the North Loft, it felt like a SALES office. When I went into Sail Tech, it was a SAIL loft. They were fixing sails, making sails, had a s-load of items needed to MAKE sails. North's sailmaking area was always clean. Sail Tech was always making/fixing something. FYI- when the tall ships came to St Petersburg- Sail Tech did their repairs.
• They were local- I knew my sail was made in the USA not in offshore. I am NOT an uber-conservative, but spending my money in the US and in St Petersurg was important to me.
• I could see no discernable difference in the fabric.
• I knew that I was not speaking to a saleman, but to the sailmaker. Once again, that is important to me. If there was a problem, I would not get the "they do that sometimes". Tom owns the location, measured my boat and delivered my sail.
• The price was reasonable and they provide sails for most of the racing fleet.

While there may be other small shops like Sail Tech around the country, there is none better than Sail Tech in SW Florida.

[Gone Gypsy]

So I am not alone in my confusion between lofts!
Thanks everyone for your experiences. Like Snore, I prefer to have the sail built ‘local’.
With enough reviews you always see conflicting opinion even for good providers. Making sails is technical, skill and experience but is also in part service. Service is a really tough job requiring absolute attention. Have a bad Monday, get a bad review that hangs on years. Even if you have great service focus you can run across an unrealistic customer.
The loft infighting may just mean it is a rough business to be in. The mixed reviews provided here says both Mack and Sail Tech can make good sails (which is what I thought
and is what I need) but that I also need to be my own service advocate where ever I go.
Thanks!

[grahamj]

Originally Posted by SJ2581

Talked with the folks at North Sail. Good marketing, the highest price (double almost) and a long lead time. I’m having a hard justifying their price for a cruising sail.

Not only a hideously high price and long lead time but not a particularly good job either. To add insult to a $10k injury they reused the slides from the old mainsail without saying anything and refused to credit or supply new ones when this was discovered.

Avoid.

[Jim Adams]

Try UK Sailmakers in Miami. I’ve purchased new sails for 4 used Beneteau’s over 15 years. Mark Wood did great with all, he’s an experienced racer/cruiser, he’s responsive, and pleasant to work with. Build times are relatively quick! I just ordered new Genoa for my Catalina 28, three weeks to completion.