Mainsail reef points

[barnakiel]

Doh.

Maybe somewhere along the route someone lost something in the imperial:metric conversions. I have seen most imperial people completely lost with mm cm m use. And a number of metric people seems to have some challenge doing the calcs in inches feet and yards.

Except that it is all the same to the CAD as long as at least one person knows what they are doing.

The ratio is the same but other things seem, eh, odd.

Maybe it is the wrong sail anyways? You know - good sailbag, wrong sail in it?

b.

[wiekeith]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Maybe it is the wrong sail anyways? You know - good sailbag, wrong sail in it?

You may well be right there. Hopefully the OP will let us know the outcome

[Carlos The Dog]

Definitely an oops on the sailmaker's part. Said they would "correct" it. I'll let you know the final resolution.

Thanks all for you comments.

[wiekeith]

That's good news, thanks for letting us know.

[Carlos The Dog]

Well, I said I would write back with the outcome. Thanks for your patience. Here is the gist of it all:

I ordered a Genoa, a staysail, and a main from Sails East through Will Rafol in Chicago. I received the staysail in March. It looked fine except the luff was a few inches shorter than I'd specified. Will had told me the sail maker would cut the luff to the length I specify and they do not subtract for stretch. I thought this odd since other sailmakers I know substract a few inches for stretch. But I was satisfied with the sail for the value and did not press the issue.

Late April I received the Genoa and Main. The Genoa ordered was a 130% yankee cut, I received a Genoa that was several inches shorter in the luff than specified and came with a full cut. After many months Will payed for a local sailmaker to modify it to a yankee cut. But of course it is still short and now only a 125% Genoa. This I thought was a compromise to get them to rebuild my main. After all, they had my money and to take them to court would be difficult and time consuming.

The main was little shorter than I had originally specified but I had spoke with Will beforehand and accepted the length. The reefs were totally off and not usable (see my older posts for details). After many months of exchanged emails and discussions I finally got the sailmaker to build another mainsail. I received this mainsail late September after having to pay half the shipping costs to get it back. They got the reefs correct this time (I did the calculations for them). Will said if I wanted Sails East to
increase the the luff and foot they would. Well they didn't. At least the foot came out the same but the luff came back even shorter. How much shorter I'll have to wait until I get back to the boat and stretch and remeasure the sail.

Would I deal with Will again? No. Would I buy anything from Sails East? No. Would I recommend Will or Sails East to anyone? No.

It has been way to stressful to deal with this company. I got a lot of promises Will but not what I'd ordered. I would of been much better off to have paid more and dealt with a local sailsloft.

[Jim Cate]

I would of been much better off to have paid more and dealt with a local sailsloft.

Just what I have been preaching here on CF when folks ask about internet sails sales. If they get it right, a bargain sail can be had. If not, you get the nightmare that you have suffered through.

I'm sorry that you've had such a struggle, but thanks for posting in such detail. PErhaps your experience will warn off a few other CF members who want to buy great sails at bargain prices!

Jim

[Bleemus]

As a former sailmaker I suggest you hang the sail up and put a block and tackle on one end of the luff and tension it significantly before measuring. Sailmakers will tension the luff significantly before stitching on the luff tape and a static measurement on the ground will always be a few inches short.

[Carlos The Dog]

I do hope someone benefits from my mistakes. Perhaps the biggest mistake was not having any real leverage in case things went wrong. One of the benefits to buying local is it is possible to take a vendor to small claims court. One I did not think about.

The vendor said I should hoist the sail and stretch it out with the halyard. I first measured the sail laid out on the ground and it measured 47' 4". It is suppose to be 48' 6". I doubt it will stretch 14" but maybe.

Thanks all for your thoughtful replies.

[Bleemus]

14 inches of stretch on the luff of 50' sounds quite normal. Depending on the material used I would stretch them 12-20 inches for a luff that long. Sounds like your beating up a sailmaker for doing his job. You got what you ordered but didn't have enough knowledge. Good luck in small claims court. You will lose.

[Carlos The Dog]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

14 inches of stretch on the luff of 50' sounds quite normal. Depending on the material used I would stretch them 12-20 inches for a luff that long. Sounds like your beating up a sailmaker for doing his job. You got what you ordered but didn't have enough knowledge. Good luck in small claims court. You will lose.

Bleemus; Your comment above shows you did not read the post(s) carefully before commenting. For your information I had first compared the sailmaker's own measurements to what was ordered. By their own admission they are several inches short. They promised they would make the sails to the dimensions I gave, they did not. Ergo, they did not do their job. And I never said I was taking them to small claims court. But I did promise I would work with them and give them every opportunity to correct their mistakes. To their credit, for the most part, they did. But it was not easy getting them to do so.

Your comment is insulting and not appreciated. Please do not comment on my posts again and I will do the same with yours.