I have a Hobie 21. I recently bought a new main sail that is not as long as the previous one. As a result, the rope bolt doesn't reach the lower mast track (below where you feed it up). Therefore, the sail has worn a hole at the point where it chafes the mast track on the upper side.
Any suggestions on how to fix this? Thanks.
What part of the sail is chafing against the lower section. The boltrope and tape, or the sail itself? Photos would be nice..
It sounds to me like the sailmaker made the luff a bit too short, so when you use your downhaul you pull the tack down and out out of the mast track. The usual arrangment is to have the luff long enough to span the opening in the track, so when you downhaul you are still able to control foot tension with the outhaul. I assume your old sail worked this way?
In my opinion, the best fix is to add a small section to the luff and make a new foot on the sail. Then you will re-gain control of the foot.
Else, you need to do some heavy reinforcing of the chafe points on your new sail. Either with dacron or perhaps with leather or a kevlar composite. It depends on where and how it is chafing.
Both points are something the sailmaker who buildt the sail for you should be willing to discuss with you.
Thanks for the reply,
You are right with the luff being to short. The sail doesn't reach the lower portion of the mast track so when there is any tension (wind, outhaul, mast rotation) it wears on the sail.
One idea I had (besides reinforcing the
sail) was to add something at the top to lower the overall position of the sail so the luff would reach the lower portion of the mast track.
I'm going to call the sailmaker before altering my setup.
Thanks again.
Lowering the sail would not be a good solution. The luff curve of the sail would not match the bending characteristics of your mast anymore, so you would not get the same power or speed from the sail.
Would be fun to hear what your sailmaker has to say about it and what kind of solution you decide on.
According to the sailmaker the luff rope will shrink with age. One fix is to cut the thread at the tack end of the sail and let the rope ease back up the luff. Then add whatever rope is needed to make up the difference and stitch it up.
This is assuming that the sail was the right dimension to start with. The luff length was made to the maximum for class restrictions so he didn't recommend adding any at the foot. I'm planning on cutting the thread on the luff rope and then measure the luff to see if it is the correct length.
Another fix he suggested was to add an outhaul slug slide to the tack end of the sail that could fit in the lower portion of the mast track.
Dacron luff ropes will stretch a bit, that is why you stretch it some extra when installing if you use dacron ropes. Other synthetics, including sailcloth, will shrink over time. Knowing how much it shrinks is important if you want this done right (or be prepared to adjust the sail over time). It was even more important earlier, before dacron and other synthetics came along becouse cotton/flax etc. stretched a lot. Reading some of the old sailmaking litterature, it was something of an art estimating and balancing the materials used so they set well after the initial stretching.
I dont know how your sail is done, but on the mainsails I have done for myself I want the luff rope to take a significant amount of load from the downhaul. I dont want all of the downhaul force to go in the cloth up to the masttop when you start downhauling. I would not have loosened the stitching, but installed a new and longer luff rope.
But it's your sailmakers product, so he should know best. If done as he says, you will still be under warranty I suppose so it would be better to follow his advice.