Jump to content

New Sails


Recommended Posts

How many of you realise that your sails,regardles of brand,are actually made overseas and just finished in nz with their logo on

Certainly that is the case with moat of the big brand lofts.

 

I would doubt that Windward, giddens etc. would have offshore affiliate's.

 

I'm with km, rather have sails built by someone I know and trust. Sadly a lot of the people in that category are getting out, retirement beckons.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Certainly that is the case with moat of the big brand lofts.

 

I would doubt that Windward, giddens etc. would have offshore affiliate's.

 

I'm with km, rather have sails built by someone I know and trust. Sadly a lot of the people in that category are getting out, retirement beckons.

I had B&g in botany make mine,well he did the measurements and sent away to his rep at hydes.asking why he didnt make directly and pointed out 2 days works doinf luff tack leach reinforcing at $?when its still same amount of work for hydes but a less $$

looking at getting an off the shelf kite for peterson 25 from hydes usa,cost + air frieght $1,200

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just had my jib changed to fit a furler ,we t to Dennis Conway in mainly , great job , priced well below what I thought , sail fits well and sets better than it did on Hanks , so going to get him to make me a new working jib next year , give him a try

Link to post
Share on other sites

That will be him. I was told good sails at a good price but be prepared to wait 6 months +.

 

Maybe you are right about the sails not existing but could be worth checking out if you have one of the models listed. If he is that slow then it is quite likely he has plenty of sails because the customer has sold boat, gone elsewhere or passed away by the time they are ready

I just received my new genoa from Murray, 6 weeks from he measured up (that is what he promised then). Unbeatable price, good material. Fits perfectly and sails very well. I'll go for main as well.

Link to post
Share on other sites

A wee update on where we are with the new sails.

 

After much hand wringing, asked half a dozen sailmakers for rough pricing and advice about materials etc. Large and smaller lofts. Four got back to me, and of those, two (Calibre and Evolution) actually gave us advice and proposed specifications for the sails. 

 

Evolution were suggesting a set of tri-radial cruising laminates, Calibre a set of crosscuts. Having spoken to both, I was perfectly happy with both proposals, and the prices were close enough not to make that an issue. After a bit of thought, we've gone with the tri-radial laminates from Evolution. After talking to both companies, we had no doubt that both would give us a good sail, we went for the tri-radials because we felt that materials and technology have moved on and improved, and that we'd get better performance than we would from the more traditional crosscut sail. 

 

Sails were ordered on the 8th December. We received a call from them on the 21st to tell us that the sails would be finished that day, and sent on the 22nd. They are now en-route, and we're expecting to get them before New Year.  Will post again once we get them and run them up the mast.

Link to post
Share on other sites

A wee update on where we are with the new sails.

 

After much hand wringing, asked half a dozen sailmakers for rough pricing and advice about materials etc. Large and smaller lofts. Four got back to me, and of those, two (Calibre and Evolution) actually gave us advice and proposed specifications for the sails. 

 

Evolution were suggesting a set of tri-radial cruising laminates, Calibre a set of crosscuts. Having spoken to both, I was perfectly happy with both proposals, and the prices were close enough not to make that an issue. After a bit of thought, we've gone with the tri-radial laminates from Evolution. After talking to both companies, we had no doubt that both would give us a good sail, we went for the tri-radials because we felt that materials and technology have moved on and improved, and that we'd get better performance than we would from the more traditional crosscut sail. 

 

Sails were ordered on the 8th December. We received a call from them on the 21st to tell us that the sails would be finished that day, and sent on the 22nd. They are now en-route, and we're expecting to get them before New Year.  Will post again once we get them and run them up the mast.

I am very happy with the Evolution Tri-radial we purchsed a few years ago

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, we finally managed to get the new sails fitted to Wild Bird, and although time will tell, first impression is very favourable.

 

Sails arrived in Dunedin from Auckland on Dec 28th. Battens arrived a day later, but then they are a bit of an awkward shaped package and had to be specially handled. Wild Bird however, was in the boatyard having the gearbox rebuilt, so we weren't actually able to get the sails on the mast until this weekend just past.

 

The Yankee went onto the roller with no trouble, looks like a well made sail to my eye, we never discussed an insert on the luff when ordering the sail, but there it was. 

 

The Main seems to me to be an very well designed and well built sail. The guys at Evolution have obviously listened to what I was saying to them about how we sail as well as just going off the (comprehensive) list of measurements they asked for. The immediate things I notice are that the reefs are a bit deeper than the old sails, the reefing cringles on the luff have dog-bones through them (we used dyneema slings before, makes fixing onto the gooseneck hook much easier), and there is a bit more roach.

 

Shape on both sails looks nice and even - though I suppose any new sail ought to look that way. Reinforcing around stressed points looks pretty bulletproof.

 

The only issue we had was that the slide on the clew of the main (loose footed) was too wide for the track on the boom. Haven't bothered to check if that was my error or the sailmakers, it was so minor and easily sorted with a junior hacksaw.

 

So, not the cheapest sail, but neither was it the most expensive from the quotes we received. But the service we received was beyond reproach, and the quality of the product looks to be the same. Could certainly have got a cheaper sail offshore, but taking everything into account, we're very comfortable having paid a bit more to buy local (well - sort of local)

 

Hopefully we'll get out and use them for real next weekend.

Link to post
Share on other sites

We tried with getting a handful of quotes and ended up going with Lidgard Sails who wasnt the cheapest but was well priced. Turned into a big mistake, headsail was a high cut foot, main had draught well aft and code zero had no shape.

 

Tried to work with them for a while as i gave them a chance to correct, whole way theough i was told it was all perfect until we got a second opinion. in the end got money back for the main and they went into recievership weeks later which ment i was stuck with the other 2 sails. Have since sold them off for less than quarter the value.

 

Went to North sails after this which had been recomended from the start, while they were a little more expensive all sails have been awesome and Booboo is a great help with setup and various ideas.

 

We have a 3dl no1 which i believe was worth the extra dollars and many other norths sails which came to the boat and the shape and fitment was perfect from day 1. We are now looking into the 3di nordac for new main, reefing #2 and possibly #4.

 

Would like to point out lidgards is now under new management but unfortunately from my experience i will never recomend nor go back there myself.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...