Is There a Resource for Sail Patterns?

[DennisNAlison]

I know about sailrite, they will sell the pre-cut sail cloth. Is there a resource for paper patterns for sails? I currently own a little day sailor and want to learn to make my own sails before getting our "blue water" boat.

[Talbot]

There is a world of difference between sewing the sails panels together from a computer driven laser cut sailcloth (sailrite), and getting a paper pattern and lofting the sails yourself. The main savings are in the sewing, and those savings on the initial sails will be absorbed by the cost of the sewing machine.

However, it does allow you to sew the panels together using a much better thread than is normally used by sailmakers.

I have a sailrite machine, and intend to make my own sails, but they will be from sailrite cut panels.

[osirissail]

See Sailrite website for great books on sails and how to make them. As mentioned they have a service to precut the panels for you and you do all the sewing.
Sailrite Sells Sunbrella Fabrics, Sailcloth, Sail Kits, Canvas and Sail Hardware, Gill Foul Weather Gear
See also: http://www.sailmakerssupply.com/Stor...s_Needles.html

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Dennis,

Haven't done this for years, but some time ago I bought a set of pamphlets from Sailrite entitled something like "make your own xxx sails and win". They were a bit rough, but outlined the process of designing and then sewing up sails of all sorts. Incidentally, this does not involve the paper patterns that you mention.

At that time I had a 30' S&S design, and I built a spinnaker and a storm jib for her (sort of both ends of the sail spectrum). I lived in a fairly small house then, and the kite just about filled up the living room, establishing a limit on what I could reasonably build ! For your daysailor there would be no real problems. Incidentally, I did all the sewing on a 30$ second (Nth) hand home Singer machine. For dinghy sails you definitely do not need a fancy Sailrite machine, nice as they are! Sailrite also had a booklet obout tuning and adjusting a home machine to optimize it for sailmaking, and it was very helpful.

The folks at Sailrite are very helpful for beginners, and don't seem to be greedy... they'll help you with your budget-driven choices.

Good luck with your efforts -- it's truly a great feeling to build sails, and then win a race using them!

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Gladstone Qld Oz