Venture 222 new sail advice?

[addison4]

1st question:
I have an old MacGregor Venture 222 [1974]. It desperately needs a new mainsail. I got a quote from the local dealer for Doyle Sails $1,746. I knew sails were expensive, but I was shocked. I looked around online and found sails for about half that price. South East Sails-$614, The Sail Warehouse standard-$605, or Coastal $835. I don’t think my Venture 222 with pop-top is designed for heavy weather, so probably the standard will do. Blue Water Yachts has apparently taken over selling replacement parts when MacGregor went out of business. Blue Water Yachts has a replacement sail for $719. Does anyone have experience with any of those companies, either good or bad?
2nd question:
On the mainsail that is currently on the boat [which may be the original], the foot of the sail has a rope attached to the whole length of the foot; it feeds through a slot in the boom so it is attached to the entire length of the boom. Some of the replacement sails have the foot of the sail only attach at the tack by the mast and at the clew on the end of the boom. The sail companies claim that this is superior and enables the boat to sail closer to the wind. Is that really a better setup? Anyone have experience with that?

[Russ]

I like to support BWY as they keep our parts alive
I believe other members have used Sail Warehouse.

[Wyb2]

I recently got a new loose-footed main from BYW for my M25. I haven’t even used it yet, but in the research phase I had trouble finding anyone that strongly preferred a bolt-rope to loose-footed. It seems like a bolt-rope foot is the ‘classic’ design that works fine but doesn’t offer any major advantages. The deciding factor for me was that a loose-footed sail is easier to install on the boom. Anything that reduces rigging and launching time/effort gets high priority for me.

[dlandersson]

Just an FYI, I was able to buy two brand new main sails for the Hunter 22 (out of production) on ebay that were the same size as the main for the 26X (a tad larger). They worked fine. The big thing is the measurements, weight, etc.

1st question:
I have an old MacGregor Venture 222 [1974]. It desperately needs a new mainsail. I got a quote from the local dealer for Doyle Sails $1,746. I knew sails were expensive, but I was shocked. I looked around online and found sails for about half that price. South East Sails-$614, The Sail Warehouse standard-$605, or Coastal $835. I don’t think my Venture 222 with pop-top is designed for heavy weather, so probably the standard will do. Blue Water Yachts has apparently taken over selling replacement parts when MacGregor went out of business. Blue Water Yachts has a replacement sail for $719. Does anyone have experience with any of those companies, either good or bad?
2nd question:
On the mainsail that is currently on the boat [which may be the original], the foot of the sail has a rope attached to the whole length of the foot; it feeds through a slot in the boom so it is attached to the entire length of the boom. Some of the replacement sails have the foot of the sail only attach at the tack by the mast and at the clew on the end of the boom. The sail companies claim that this is superior and enables the boat to sail closer to the wind. Is that really a better setup? Anyone have experience with that?