Jobs completed... boom cover... genoa adjustment... main sail adjustment...

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!

New main!

...well new to me anyway...  err.. second hand ... "previously owned"... 😀

Been pricing up new main sail for Sparrow as it was trickling up to the top of my "urgency" list as launch approaches.. I'm no boy racer but I can tell the sail is err.. past it's "sell by" date, and fast approaching its "use by" date...

I like to use local sail makers if I can, and if they hadn't gone bust (😕) last year the guys who made my genoa (Arun) would have been first choice, either way, they have, so I've had to ask a few others... No response from Batt Sails (they're in the same local industrial park as Arun was), but a quote of £620 from Kemp Sails (Gosport but still fairly local), with a small/possible discount if I order it off season (probably the £20 😏)

While I was doing that I also put out  a gentle word round various forums to see if there any second hand mains knocking about and got lucky via a contact on the YBW forums...  much measuring and re-measuring at both ends of the conversation ensued ...

Clew/foot

Luff

Tack/foot

... and I sent off the dosh this morning for the following - never had a tan sail before! 

...but it appears to be in excellent condition - seller advises "The sail is lightly used, has no obvious wear or chafe, no repairs. The cloth is still shiny and has not gone limp.There are a few small dark marks that are not very noticeable (from oil spots?). I would have used it on my current boat but it is a bit small for my rig. There is no sail makers label".

...for the price (less than 15% of that Kemp main) I'm delighted...  looking forward to seeing how it fits, though I've factored in the possibility of some minor adjustments if required (I think the luff is spot on but the foot is close)..

Also looking forward to seeing how the boat feels compared to how it did with the old one, but either way, the sail will see me through this season and hopefully a few more.. 

New jib/genoa

Wouldn't have had any trouble with seeing approaching traffic...

 

Having had a bonus at work I've been given permission to spend some of it on a new foresail ...  you may remember from last year that having put a UV strip on the foresail that came with the boat, when the time came to actually put it up it was far smaller than I expected... With a luff of approx. 20 feet, and a foot of approximately 8.5 feet I think it is roughly  85 sq. feet; having spoken to the sail loft this morning it appears to be a working jib.

The new sail (from Arun Sails [clicky]) has a full length luff of 22 feet (so I can lose the strop I've been using) and a perpendicular of approximately 11.5 feet giving me an area of about 120 or 130 square feet - that's 30% bigger...

I've ordered it with the UV strip, and it should be ready in 2 to 3 weeks...  very excited!

Separately, the outboard went in for servicing this morning... clearly the season is beginning to get closer, there are 14 other engines in front of mine in the queue...