Possible to Use Blue Plastic Poly Tarp for Series Drogue Cones ?

[Scare_Rab]

I'm wanting to make myself a Jordan Series Drogue.

I have the pattern off the interNet.
Suggests to use an "old sail" for the cones.

Not having any 'old sail(s)' , I'm wondering if people could see a problem cutting up that *cheap* blue tarpaulin material ... sold at Wal-Mart , hardware stores etc?

comments/suggestions welcomed

.

[DavidGC]

The stuff at WalMart ,etc is pretyy lightweight.
You can get heavier polytarp online that would probably work.
I made a balanced lug sail out of a (white) heavy duty polytarp for a small boat that is about to enter its third summer sailing season.

DGC

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by Scare_Rab

I'm wanting to make myself a Jordan Series Drogue.

I have the pattern off the interNet.
Suggests to use an "old sail" for the cones.

Not having any 'old sail(s)' , I'm wondering if people could see a problem cutting up that *cheap* blue tarpaulin material ... sold at Wal-Mart , hardware stores etc?

comments/suggestions welcomed

.

Since you asked! Why cheap out on something that will be used to save the boat and possibly your life in a very grim situation. How much can dacron or nylon ripstop cost?? Why not use good materials if you are going go through all the trouble to build one. They are somewhat time consuming and tedious to build. Then at the end you will have something that you know will work.

What many don't realize is that there is a fair amount of engineering behind many of the products out there, like the series drogue designs. They are built to function in a certain way given their purpose.

Why go through all the effort on something that may not work when you really need it because you built it out of blue plastic.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Scare,

As I recall, the original design called for the cones to be made of rip-stop nylon, and the attachment "strings" to be made of folded up ripstop.

Some years ago I built a very small series drogue to use when towing our big inflatable (bad practice, I know!). Idea was to keep it from surfing and getting too much slack in the tow rope. Not having a clue, my first attempt had 6 cones, standard dimensions. When I first tried it out whilst motoring at about 4 knots in the dinghy, it nearly pulled me overboard before I could throttle back! Wow! So I ended up with two cones, and it worked a treat... still does, for that matter. But, the nylon soon was reduced to tatters. If you stop to consider, when you use one with 120+ cones on a yacht, the speed will never get above 1-2 knots and the stress on the individual cone is small. In the dinghy drogue we could and did exceed 10 knots whilst towing it. This trashed the nylon. So, I made some new cones out of Herculite vinyl material, and they've lasted ever since... circa 15 years.

So, I suspect that you could indeed get away with your blue tarp stuff, but as in a previous post, I think it might be a foolish was to save a few bucks. For one thing, I wonder about the ageing qualities of the tarp stuff. It could be years before you needed your JSD, and it would be a shame if it blew apart when you deployed it. You might wish that you had spent just a little more on material!

All that said, I think that they are a great device, and applaud your determination to build one.

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Broken Bay, NSW, Oz

[hugosalt]

Check your local sail loft for scrapes, if they don't sell drogues
or think your going into the repair business they may help out,
or check the net for used sails beyond their useful life, may be able to p.u. real cheap...to much labor to do this job twice.

[roverhi]

If you are anywhere near Alameda, CA, I've got a couple of sails I'll give you.

[Tim_H]

Sailrite sells kits.

[SabreKai]

I ask myself this. Would I trust a cheap made in china tarp that shreads after a few days outside to save me, my crew and my boat?


Nah.


Go visit the local sail loft and see about getting some scraps. Or perhaps visit one of the local boat flea markets and pick up a used sail. Ask around your marina, or club. At our club we have a flee market at least a couple times a year, and guys are always passing on materials, sails, ropes n what not.


Sabre

[forsailbyowner]

At Rochfordsupply.com they have ripstop nylon for as low as $2.45 a yard. I think its off a 60" bolt. Shop around their site I'm sure you'll find enough that you want to make the $50 minimum order. I've been thinking of getting some of the ripstop to make a spinnaker.

[forsailbyowner]

A little more info, 1.1 oz ripstop 67" bolt blue or light blue. $2.45 yd(36"x67"). Under bargain textiles/closeout nylons. At this price its close to what you would pay for the poly tarps.

[Polunu880]

buy one at defender for less than all this messing about you are talking about.
Sea Anchor

[forsailbyowner]

That defender drogue sure isn't a jordan series drogue. I think the ones I was seeing were over $1k