Has any of you bought after market sails.? what kind do i look at do i go with Square top? i am thinking against a Rolling furl!

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1980 Reynolds 21 Catamaran #38
1988 Farrier 27 # 31
2002 Hobie Getaway
Pennsylvania, PA.
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there are many great sail lofts to chose from. Some are the "house" sailmakers for nacra, some are the legacy makers for a specific cat (i.e. ullman sails made mystere sails for a while, so still have those plans)
There are tons of options.

I recently went with a local company (Doyle) for several reasons (cost, fabric, they had recently made one for a friend and liked what i saw, etc).

I had them use my F18 main as a template & modified it to my specs

I just picked it up. So far i love it, but time will tell how it stands up to 160 days of sailing in the fl sun each year, and if it is as fast my f18.

It is my 5th main on my cat in 5 years but my first EVER brand new sail

can be seen here
it is Flex Technora II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0IaQm_yEv4



Edited by MN3 on Aug 28, 2012 - 02:43 PM.

I bought Whirlwind Sails for my 5.2 and love them. Chip Buck is sometimes a little hard to get a hold of these days because he is managing a larger sail loft and Whirlwind is more of a side business for him but you cannot beat his quality and price. Unless your rig is specifically designed for a square top or you really want to convert it over, with high power downhaul etc. I would suggest sticking with a pin top rig, but go with a radial cut. The learning curve on trimming a square top is quite steep and the extra sail area up high can overpower you pretty easily. Given a chance to go back I probably would stick with a pin top.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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If I was going to purchase new sails for cruising, non racing aplications, I would look at a square weave (rip-stop) dacron sail and a square top. Advantages of the square top have been discussed before. I have had both pin-top and square top and if you are getting new sails go with new tech. I am not sailing as much as I used to, but the Mylar sails I had in the past lasted about 2 years in the FL sun. Dacron last longer, look at all the Hobies with 20 year sails, but stretches so allow for that. I also miss the colored sails. I would definitly go with roller furling and will be converting the P19 to it ASAP. You cannot beat rolling the jib up to depower, and when it's time to drop anchor/have the boat at anchor it's easier.
Just my 2 cents

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Steve Fisherkeller
P19MX
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ok good info here thanks again!

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1980 Reynolds 21 Catamaran #38
1988 Farrier 27 # 31
2002 Hobie Getaway
Pennsylvania, PA.
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