Quote:
Originally Posted by Loredo
GRIT,
"Wear is as important as performance, for a cruising boat."
Hmmm, I don't know if I'd subscribe to this line as is. Please define wear. Once dacron turns into "potato bags" they still can be used. No doubt about that one! The question is, SHOULD they still be in use? Not for me. I've replaced dacron potato bags in the past and that was (IF lucky) after five years if not sooner. Mine IS a pure cruising boat, still if I had 10 boat bucks and needed to spend 9 out of them (or all for that matter..) for good performing sails, I'd spend them and eventually wait to purchase other stuff. Should the performance come at the price of slightly reduced longevity, so be it.
I want to SAIL! I don't want a motorsailor... and to do that I'm ready to spend what needs to be spend. If I wanted an unexpensive hobby, I'd be jogging.
Joking aside, I got dyneema laminates for my previous boat. Still a steep investment back then. BUT, when I sold that boat 11 years later the laminates were still in perfect shape (replaced the UV protection twice) and should last at least another 10 years. To me the 3Di seem superior to the laminates, I can't seem to find a reason why they shouldn't last. Only time will tell though.
Loredo
Loredo
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Sure, I can elaborate on that.
I guess it comes down to "Wear/Time/Cost" = Value.
You said "slightly reduced longevity", which means you have a line drawn in the sand somewhere too.
When laminated sails first came out, it seemed like they were lasting 4 seasons
racing, and about 4 years cruising full time, before they started to fall apart. That's far too much "wear" for me, in four years.
When your flying potato bags, that's a done sail. To me, that's the end of the sail's life; it's worn out. Sure, you can fly it, but it's just for show at that point. In an
emergency, I'll fly anything I can find, but for regular use, no.
Since my
mainsail already seems to be stretched a little, after only two years; that's too much "wear" for me. The cost of paying $9000 for two years use, for a sail that has mediocre performance to begin with, is too much. For our boat, and our use case, the value of Dacron is just not there.
If a 3di, or laminate, will give me 10 years use at 3 times the price, that's better value. And, on top of that is the intangible value of being able to sail "better" that whole time. For me, "better" means faster and higher, and is worth a good bit of coin to me.
If 3di, or a laminate was 3 times the price and only lasted 5 years, then fell apart, most cruisers would consider that a bad deal. Because Wear is an important consideration for most cruisers. When a cruiser's sails fall apart, (especially folks like you and I, who sail all the time) he's kinda stuck finding new ones quick. Let's hope we're not in the back of nowhere at the time! A
racer just motors home and orders new ones.
If I'm always looking for a
sailmaker, for
repairs, that's bad value for me. My time is valuable to me; When I'm cruising, I don't want to spend it searching for a sailmaker, instead of climbing that hill over there.
Your boat may be a "pure cruising boat", but it's
captain has more than lazy downwind sailing in mind!
There are lots of definitions for "pure cruising boat". Those folks on old full keeled boats, wouldn't consider your boat, or mine, "pure".
We are of the same mind. We very rarely run the engines, for more than 20 minutes for any reason. We sail everywhere, and usually on and off the
anchor too. Which is why we're not happy with the dacron
mainsail. It's just wearing out too quickly.
I hope this rambling post clears things up a little.
Cheers, and happy sailing.
Paul.