How to fix Most blown out Mainsails!

[Tom Root]

A trick I learned many years ago from a member of VYC ( Venture Yacht Club ) in San Diego, Murv Barry, was how to fix a blown out Mainsail. At the time I had a Decades old Mainsail on my 1976 Venture 25.

What you do is easy, hopefully I will explain it clear enough. First you look at your Bolt Rope and if it clearly is making impressions in the material, and there are ripples on your Luff, it will cause a belly on your sail. Without a doubt this will cause your speed to be diminished in all points of sail.

Next, take a very sharp Utility knife, starting 6"-8" up from the Tack carefully sever the bolt rope, paying particular attention to not cut any stitches that construct the pocket for the bolt rope.

Then attach the Head of the sail to a tree or some other stationary object, and then stretch the Tack making the bolt rope as tight as possible. Working along the Luff, pull the material until the entire luff is tight again, with no wrinkles left. Pushing against the Luff will accomplish what is needed.

What causes this is that you will notice that in any sail I have ever seen, the bolt rope is Cotton, and the sail, Dacron etc., which do not have the same stretch ratios/characteristics.

If you have a decent sail, but just blown out for the reasons I stated, try it! If you are considering another sail, this may save you many boat bucks for a few more years!

Note# I explained this as clearly as possible, I am not responsible however in any damage You Do! Trust me, it really is easier than you think, and I'd like feedback from those who did this! It DOES work!

You will end up with a gap in the bolt rope area, but that will be of little consequence, and your results should be dramatic!

[Octaman]

Hi Tom,

Great post and good technique to prolong the life of a blown out mainsail; I agree it helps.

However, it does not actually 'fix' the mainsail. If the material has stretched there is little you can do about it.

If I may add to your valuable post, - as I see many Mac sailors in photos or videos with a really loose luff, I think it is equally necessary to stress the importa,nce of tightening your luff sufficiently when raising the sail. This may prove difficult or even impossible on the Mac that does not have halyard winches fitted on the mast unless,
you either have halyards leading aft to the cockpit – in which case you can lead the line to one of the two winches on the coachroof
OR
if you use a trucker’s hitch that will give you a purchase on the halyard adequate to stretch the luff suitably.

A reminder that stretching the luff, which is what Tom and I are both doing in two different ways, moves the draft of the sail chord forward resulting in a greater forward force (speed) and a lesser sideways force (heeling).

A blown out mainsail requires considerably more tension on the halyard than when new.

If you google the trucker’s hitch you will find the knot quite easily; there are, however, a couple of version of the same knot. Only one is suitable for us working at the mast, the one that loosens up easily and releases quickly allowing for a fast, knot-free drop of the sail. I will look it up and post it if I find it.

Happy sailing,

Octaman

[Hardcrab]

All of the tension on a halyard hoist is limited by the bolt rope.
So, something to consider doing on any new or old sail to keep a better shape, (IHMO), is to simply cut and remove the LOWER stitching through the mast bolt rope/sail cloth.
Leave the upper stitching in place.

This allows the bolt rope to ride up freely in the sail so that any halyard tension is pulling the sail tight and not the bolt rope.
When the rope shrinks it can do so freely, but not make any sail "bunching up" occur along with it.

No down side to doing this, only upside if/when bolt rope shrinkage happens.

It's the very first thing I did to my new Muscle Head sail (sadly, KH Sails now defunct).
I haven't looked yet to see if the bolt rope is migrating up the sail pocket.
Sooner or later it will.
It certainly did on my stock sail.

[bscott]

A main sail luff Cunningham will pull down the lower 1/3 of the luff removing most of the wrinkles and moving the draft forward. A clew Cunningham (0ut haul with 3:1 purchase) will also move the draft forward.

Bob

[DaveB]

Blown out Main Sail best solution is to replace it.
The material has expanded and the belly is pregnated, there is no redo, it's shot full of belly (Like me)and Tacks like a Snail.
Dave

[Sumner]

All of the tension on a halyard hoist is limited by the bolt rope.
So, something to consider doing on any new or old sail to keep a better shape, (IHMO), is to simply cut and remove the LOWER stitching through the mast bolt rope/sail cloth.
Leave the upper stitching in place.

We did the above...



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... ing-3.html

and that fixes the shrunken bolt rope and made things better, but as Dave says....

Blown out Main Sail best solution is to replace it.
The material has expanded and the belly is pregnated, there is no redo, it's shot full of belly (Like me)and Tacks like a Snail. Dave

... the only way to take care of the sail is possibly to have it re-cut or as he suggested get....



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... ng-23.html

....new sails, as we did from Somerset Sails.

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links

[Tom Root]

Thanks for those who added. My point is.... that in Most, and I say Most cases where a sail was in a relatively usable condition, Many times the bolt rope can be the culprit! Before one goes and shells out the big bucks, try this first!

I can say that I have seen over a dozen Main Sails saved in the VYCSD club using this remedy!

If you take care of your sails they can and do last decades!

One other thing I do BTW is put my Headsail furled and slid into a tube made up of 4" corrugated HDPE flexible black pipe (Home Depot)http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... ogId=10053for non sailing seasons. They have connections to join the pieces as well, tape them. It stays hung at the crest of my garage roof indoors. I put a cap on one end and allow the drum to stick out. Seal that end off with tape to the drum. Works like a charm.

I own a Hobie Adventure Island Sail Kayak that I do that with as well with it's roller main.

[Octaman]

A main sail luff Cunningham will pull down the lower 1/3 of the luff removing most of the wrinkles and moving the draft forward. A clew Cunningham (0ut haul with 3:1 purchase) will also move the draft forward.

Bob

Hey Bob,

The Cunningham is a great way to tension the luff once the mainsail has been hoisted. It is one more tool that helps trim the sail. But we don't have it on the Mac. Unless you have made a mod that would be interesting for us all to see.

On the other hand, please note that the outhaul that tensions the foot of the sail DOES NOT assist in moving the draft forward. It merely flattens the sail, especially the lower portion, reducing the draft, but not shifting its position relative to the chord of the foil.

With the Mac, that is heel-sensitive, we generally benefit from a flat sail with the draft forward even in relatively light conditions where other conventional sailing boats with a fixed keel would prefer to have a fuller sail.

Hope we get to see your Cunningham; I am assuming that the gooseneck has been modified to slide up and down along the mast. You have our "curiosity-switch" turned on. I don't think I have seen such a mod done by anyone else.
Please share.

Happy sailing!

Octaman

[bscott]

I have a Cunningham which is a simple cringle placed midway between the tack and the first reefing point. I use the same reefing hook for the Cunningham and for reefing since I harden up the Cunningham before I do to my first reef. I only do this with a crew capable of going forward-otherwise I omit the Cunningham--can't show you the sail, it's currently under 10" of snow.

The clew Cunningham is know as a flattener as you said but it does add to the movement of the draft forward and when used with the main Cunningham is very effective. I have KH C2000 sails on my boat, the main is loose footed and really helps keeping the X on its feet, even with the M rotating mast, 2' taller than the std X mast.

Bob

[Octaman]

Re: Cunningham - I understand. So, with your system, when you tension the line going through your cringle the upper section of the luff from the cringle to the head of the sail tightens up (bringing the draft forward only on that section of the sail, but the rest of the luff (and the sail) from the cringle down to the tack inevitaby becomes baggy and inefective, spoiling the shape of the foil.
I would still prefer to put more tension on the halyard and have the whole sail working.

A genuine Cunningham with a sliding gooseneck would be interesting to have; That is a more efficient system that has an effect on the whole sail. Has anyone out there done this???

Re: Outhaul - Sorry Bob, but I think we may have a degree of misunderstanding here. When I say the draft moves forward, I mean that the draft moves from half way between clew and tack of the sail toward the tack. This efficiently makes for a greater forward force and a lesser sideways force thus less heeling and more speed. The outhaul cannot achieve this. The halyard/cunninghanm can.
If your outhaul is really loose and your draft is closer to the clew then, yes, tensioning the outhaul will bring the draft closer to midway between clew and tack but this is considered bringing the draft to the basic trim position for the sail to function and not regarded as draft being forward. The outhaul will not bring the draft beyond this point.

thank you for your input

Octaman

[Tom Root]

I would like to see how a cunningham is done on our boats as well!

[ronacarme]

I replaced the stock fixed gooseneck on our 2001 X with a sliding gooseneck (as I had done earlier on our prior 1988 26D). After fully hoisting the main, a light 3 part tackle (connecting the gooseneck and mast base support) is used to tension the luff and reduce luff wrinkles. Not a cure for a badly shrunken luff rope but it helps.
Ron

[bscott]

Re: Cunningham - I understand. So, with your system, when you tension the line going through your cringle the upper section of the luff from the cringle to the head of the sail tightens up (bringing the draft forward only on that section of the sail, but the rest of the luff (and the sail) from the cringle down to the tack inevitaby becomes baggy and inefective, spoiling the shape of the foil.
I would still prefer to put more tension on the halyard and have the whole sail working.

A genuine Cunningham with a sliding gooseneck would be interesting to have; That is a more efficient system that has an effect on the whole sail. Has anyone out there done this???

Re: Outhaul - Sorry Bob, but I think we may have a degree of misunderstanding here. When I say the draft moves forward, I mean that the draft moves from half way between clew and tack of the sail toward the tack. This efficiently makes for a greater forward force and a lesser sideways force thus less heeling and more speed. The outhaul cannot achieve this. The halyard/cunninghanm can.
If your outhaul is really loose and your draft is closer to the clew then, yes, tensioning the outhaul will bring the draft closer to midway between clew and tack but this is considered bringing the draft to the basic trim position for the sail to function and not regarded as draft being forward. The outhaul will not bring the draft beyond this point.

thank you for your input

Octaman

Hardening up the main halyard will only effect the upper half of the main and the Cunningham the lower third--there is no exact science here as not all sails are created equal. I have a draft stripes in both sails so I can actually see where my draft is on all points of sail. I would expect the main halyard to be hardened up with the winch as a common sailing practice in a breeze. Off the wind it can be eased as is the Cunningham. A clew Cunningham is the same as a stock out haul except it has at least a 3:1 purchase and if you have a loose footed main, it will move the draft forward with a flatter main. Lots of sailing books on the subject of trimming sails--old school stuff relating to the stretchy dacron fabrics like the flimsy OEM Doyle sails.

The combined use of both Cunninghams will reduce heeling and improve drive as a first step before reefing, then they become a mute point.

Bob

[Octaman]

I replaced the stock fixed gooseneck on our 2001 X with a sliding gooseneck (as I had done earlier on our prior 1988 26D). After fully hoisting the main, a light 3 part tackle (connecting the gooseneck and mast base support) is used to tension the luff and reduce luff wrinkles. Not a cure for a badly shrunken luff rope but it helps.
Ron

Got a photo of your sliding gooseneck?

[ronacarme]

Octaman..
The sliding goose neck on our X is machined from an aluminum block and was bot in 2001 or 2002 from a fellow on the one of the sailing discussion boards....but I can find no contact info.
I used a cast-off Hobie 16 cat sliding gooseneck on our former D but could not find another for use on the X.
Hope this helps.
Ron