Weather has just taken a turn for the worse - it was -3' C this morning when I got up but some signs of spring are evident.. well in the garage at least..
A check of the sail cover confirmed it really was beyond the pale... I'd been hoping to get this re-stitched, if not just taped, but the material was tissue thin and tearing in multiple places...
UV had done for the stitching along the top, but 6 years of gently flapping in the breeze had broken down the material as well.. no matter, checking back it cost me £60 in April 2013, so £12 a year, not as much as you spend on a trip to the pub in an evening - it owed me nothing..
I stripped the buckles and the tie ropes (all re-usable) and took the rest to the tip.. a new one has been ordered - but not before I measured the old one...
..think these were the guys who sold me the last one!
Separately - the genoa has been picked up following a re-cut - too early (of course) to see if it has done the trick as I need the mast up, and the sail up, but the cost was reasonable, and the sailmaker has a good reputation (
Batt Sails [clicky]) - I was fascinated to see how they had done it.. =>
So the issue with my genoa has always been that the LP value was too high - OK for long beam reaches, but for short tacking, or indeed any regular tacking, it was too "deep" and I invariably rolled in three or four rolls - sailmakers solution was to shorten the foot (the green triangle) - basically leave the luff length and sacrificial/UV strip as is, but cut out a chunk of the foot as a wedge - LP reduces, and the only downside he says is that the clew will be a little lower - but it was fairly high anyway... cost? Less than £70 - I thought it was going to be three times that so I'm delighted..
I dropped off the main this morning to have the luff shortened slightly - my suggestion was to re-position the head plate, and it turned out that was the right way... top of the plate will now be where the bottom of the plate currently is....
...that is to give me a little more wiggle room on the downhaul for the sail - currently I have no more than an inch or two - so if I want to tighten it right down in a breeze I am stuck... the addition 3" or 4" will allow additional tightening/adjustment while not affecting the overall dimensions of the sail..
He'll also put new numbers on, and a Hurley 20 insignia (in white)...
Good progress - that's jobs 9, 10, and 11, complete!
