Want To Buy: Main Sail for Endeavourcat 30 needed desperately

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by colemj

You could go South to Nassau for a new local sail: Phillips Sailmakers – RACING & CRUISING SAILS

If you are heading to the US now, the winds are predominantly out of the East - just wait for a good forecast and slide on over under just your headsail.

Mark

Thanks Mark, yes that is our thinking. Thanks for the link ... I have sent them a quote request.

[Bluewaters2812]

Update: Unfortunately the sewing machine will not work. Have rolled up the main sail and will have to wait for another opportunity to sew if we can find a sewing machine.

[Half Moon Ecat]

Greetings. We just replaced our main on an Endeavourcat 36. It does need some attention and should not be considered pristine. But it might work for you. Remember the sail has full length battens / that also have be shipped. Does your cat the main sail track in the mast?

We are sailing now through Thanksgiving, on the way to Florida. We will be back in Philadelphia / Sail in the garage... Let us know if you are interested. While the sail might be bigger that your rig, you could always rig it at first reef....until you can get a decent sail again...

Fair winds, Bill on "Half Moon"

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by Half Moon Ecat

Greetings. We just replaced our main on an Endeavourcat 36. It does need some attention and should not be considered pristine. But it might work for you. Remember the sail has full length battens / that also have be shipped. Does your cat the main sail track in the mast?

We are sailing now through Thanksgiving, on the way to Florida. We will be back in Philadelphia / Sail in the garage... Let us know if you are interested. While the sail might be bigger that your rig, you could always rig it at first reef....until you can get a decent sail again...

Fair winds, Bill on "Half Moon"

Hi Bill, thank you. What do you want for your old sail? Any idea of what sort of work it requires and an idea of the luff, leech and foot lengths. I can take a max of

Luff 35 foot 5 inches MAX

Leech 38 foot 8 inches MAX
Foot 17 foot 3 inches MAX

It does have the main sail foot track in the mast but I can live with the foot free of the mast if need be.

The person who had a sailrite machine for me to borrow couldn't get it working so I was unable to sew despite having done a fairly okay job of cutting the shredded main sail down. I have just managed to free us from the beach and over the next week I will make my way to Green Turtle Cay where we will see what we can have done to the sail. If I can limp back to West Palm or Ft Lauderdale with the small Jib and a jury rigged/sewn main in good weather and seas it would be great. Waiting for good conditions will take a while but I am determined to get there.

Appreciate your assistance, thank you.

Len & Lisa

[JPA Cate]

Len,

It is possible to sew mainsail seams by hand. It is a tedious effort, but doable. If you try it, make a special effort to keep the tension equal.

Also, if you can tear the fabric by hand, it is too far gone to be worth the effort. Split seams offer hope; torn panels do not, really, though if I were desperate, I'd try patching with sticky-back sailcloth, and sail with a reef in to keep the loads down a bit.

Good luck with it.

Ann

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Len,

It is possible to sew mainsail seams by hand. It is a tedious effort, but doable. If you try it, make a special effort to keep the tension equal.

Also, if you can tear the fabric by hand, it is too far gone to be worth the effort. Split seams offer hope; torn panels do not, really, though if I were desperate, I'd try patching with sticky-back sailcloth, and sail with a reef in to keep the loads down a bit.

Good luck with it.

Ann

Thanks Ann, yesterday we managed to cut away the two bottom panels, re-work the tack and clew and sew a few patches into the sail. Someone here had a Sailrite machine that they kindly loaned us and with 6 hours sewing behind us we hoisted the sewn sail and took her for a short spin. The foot is free from the boom and the jury rig is working well. Looks like it might hold if we stick to good weather and winds, so holding thumbs and praying we will be able to limp back slowly to Florida.

It will be slow and take a lot longer than we wanted but we are determined to do it. Been through worse so this is doable for us for sure. As always you have been a great support, so thank you once again.

[colemj]

Hope you are watching the weather and not planning to return to FL in the next week or two. After that, you may have some nice moderate E winds to push you back.

Mark

[the_alpine]

Just FYI-fast cure 5200 works awesome for patches large and small on sails. Often times if the fabric is worn-out 5200 is far superior than stitches which will just create a weak perforation line.

I tore my main sale in half in the Bahamas years ago, patched it with strips of dacron and 5200, and I'm still using that sail to this day.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by colemj

Hope you are watching the weather and not planning to return to FL in the next week or two. After that, you may have some nice moderate E winds to push you back.

Mark

I am, thanks. Stiff blows all of next week. Will not be sailing in tht for sure with this jury rigged main.

[Bluewaters2812]

[QUOTE=the_alpine;1961020]Just FYI-fast cure 5200 works awesome for patches large and small on sails. Often times if the fabric is worn-out 5200 is far superior than stitches which will just create a weak perforation line.

I tore my main sale in half in the Bahamas years ago, patched it with strips of dacron and 5200, and I'm still using that sail to this day.

Good to know, thanks. Wouldn't have thought of that. If it tears again before we get all the way back I will definitely have to try some fast cure 5200 on any patches I make. The sail has done very well. I suspect it is the original (1992), so at 23 years old its ancient. Probably had many years that it wasn't used much though.

[skipmac]

Hi Bluewaters,

Maybe I misunderstood the posts but you mentioned a few used sails you found that were a little short on the foot which you could deal with but also short on the leach which would make the boom ride up.

My experience is most boats and sails come with the tack of the sail and boom angle to the mast at 90 degrees. Also from geometry, if you have a right triangle and shorten one side (the foot for example) and keep the other side the same (the luff) then the hypotenuse (the leach) will have to be shorter but will still have the two sides at 90 degrees. In the case of a sail, shorter foot with the correct luff length the leach would have to be shorter than your original main but the boom would still be level.

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Hi Bluewaters,

Maybe I misunderstood the posts but you mentioned a few used sails you found that were a little short on the foot which you could deal with but also short on the leach which would make the boom ride up.

My experience is most boats and sails come with the tack of the sail and boom angle to the mast at 90 degrees. Also from geometry, if you have a right triangle and shorten one side (the foot for example) and keep the other side the same (the luff) then the hypotenuse (the leach) will have to be shorter but will still have the two sides at 90 degrees. In the case of a sail, shorter foot with the correct luff length the leach would have to be shorter than your original main but the boom would still be level.

Hi Skipmac,

Yes, agreed but I haven't found one that has an acceptable luff length as well as leech length/foot length yet. Will keep looking. We have now made it to Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas. Patched main not really used much because we had very light and variable mainly on the nose with flat seas. Used a small bit of diesel lol.