Sail Rite

[Bob Ketterling]

I am building a Pooduck and I am thinking about useing a Sail Rite kit for the sails. This is my first sail boat and I have no experience with sails. I would like to hear from people who have used the kites. How difficult a project is this? How good are the sails when you were done?

[Todd Bradshaw]

Scroll down the page to the thread on making sails. It will probably answer your questions.

[NormMessinger]

Todd pretty well gives the definitive answer at http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=006344 .

I'll expand a bit on my contribution to that thread. I've had more experience with a sewing machine than most people. I've made clothing for myself, wife and kids as well as sleeping bags and tents. The little Featherlite Singer I use would not zig zag and the throat was a bit small so I shopped around and found a cheap White, new.

The Sailrite kit for a 55 sq ft sail and the machine was about the same as a finished sail from Sailrite. Sailrite no longer makes finished sails they said a couple of years ago.

The hardest thing for me had to do with the limitations of the machine. Stitches were not even and seams were not straight. However, all stitches are on the seam and properly tensioned so I do not believe strength was compromised. I was smart enough not to use contrasting thread.

Sailrite insturctions are complete and telephone support is beyond reproach. The latter was necessary for me to get the White to stitch through eight or ten layers.

My hand work is not equal to that one a professionally made sail however it too measures up in strength I beleive, leathered cornors and all. I have "Sailmaker Apprentice" and made the canvas bag before tackling the sails.

The size of the sail does not affect difficulty as much as the length of the seams. The 55 sq.ft. lug sail was easier than the 41 sq.ft. stays'l, for example. One really needs a proper infeed and out feed table and I submit, on small sails such as these, the table is as important as the machine.

I hired the 132' mains'l made. I appreciate the limitations of machine, table and me.

Making stuff myself is what I do so I'm a bit biased. However, based on what Todd and I have (whoa, Todd and I. Does that have an egotistical ring to it or what.) reported ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances.

Good luck and best wishes.

[Mike Keers]

I didn't participate in the thread noted above, but like Norm, I did make a SailRite sail for my 13-foot catboat I built some years back, when they were a fairly new outfit.

I was no stranger to sewing, altho not as 'qualified' as Norm by his resume. ;)

My sail was 96 square feet. We already owned a White machine, and I'll say the biggest part of the job, and the most frustrating was the machine and dealing with it. First I had to take a self-education course (local library) in sewing machine repair and tune-up to get the thing to work and keep working. There is some real work involved in punching thru six or eight layers of 5 oz sailcloth on a 'consumer grade' machine.

I had a large loft, and worked with the machine and sail on the floor, which served as a 32-foot table, so had plenty of room to swing the cat. I used the suggested cardboard carpet tube for feeding the sail in, and I did require help for some of it, just feeding.

The materials were first class, instructions good, support good, no fault there.

The sail came out quite well despite the ongoing frustration of broken needles and so forth. Bottom line, I did it, I'm satisfied with the job, I know all I need to know about sailmaking now. I won't be making any more. I'll let the pros do it from now on. But it was valuable experience. Your mileage may vary.

[SailBoatDude]

I have to ditto Mike's experience with the kit from SailRite. I learned a lot from the project (Lighting mainsail) but will not do it again. These folks earn their money. My sail turned out to work well, but not as good as the real fancy ones from a loft, well enough though.

There is a reason some professions are well paid. Lets take a plumber for example. You don't have to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but stand at the business end of a 6" waste line with a clog on the second floor of an eighteen story condo and it doesn't take much imagination to know what is going to happen when the snake he's using clears that clog. Hence the pay, and why I'll always buy certain things.

[Paul Griffin]

Bob

We sewed the sails for our boat. 100 sq ft main and 30 sq ft jib. We were very happy with the way it looked. If you read the instructions and take your time it will work well. We are going to do our next set of sails for Dark harbor 17. We will buy a larger sewing machine with a true walking foot, which we didn't have for the first set.

Paul

[Bob Aberton]

This reminds me...

I'm planning on sewing my own sails, too. I'm using some cast-off Dacron that a relative salvaged from a condemned boat.

Anyways, I need to do this cheap - real, real cheap.

So what is the best kind of sewing machine, in your opinion, for this kind of work?

The sails ain't too big, because the boat's just 12'. The main is a fully battened marconi and the jib is just a typical jib.

[NormMessinger]

Any machine that will make stitches.

Seriously.

Zig zag may be more authentic but I think Todd had advise relevant to this in the other thread. cf.

[Steve Lansdowne]

There is some pride in building a boat, and there may also be in sewing your own sail. I made a Whisp SailRite sail on my wife's zig zag machine. It was fun, not difficult, and rewarding.

[DickB]

My wife and I sewed 3 sails for a Bolger Chebacco. White thread (various meanderings and spacings per the gods) on white sails. Use of cardboard tube essential for sails. A good Viking sewing machine, overhauled beforehand, did the job without complaint. Hand sewing the most fun. Cost major consideration plus our DIY mentality. Jeff on the phone at Sailrite gets my vote for the Patiently Most Helpful. Do it before spring and summer conflict with indoor work.

[scepticus]

I'd never even considered sewing my own sails before reading this thread.... but now I'm starting to think I should.

what sort of info do I need to give to sailrite and what sort of stuff do I expect to get from them?

I've sewn a little and I'm all about DIY so it seems like something I should try.

[NormMessinger]

Scepticus, call Sailrite and talk to them. They may well have the sail for your boat already file. They provide absoulutly everything you need to make the sail, fabric, thread, grommets, thimbles, rope, complete instructions, telephone support etc. You may want a sail makers palm if you do much hand work, a fid or two, etc. but not much if anything else. If the thread balls up in your machine, or what ever, call them.