Hi.
Last week I got hold of a almost new mylar mainsail.
Its hardly used, and cut for a alu tappered mast.
It came with no battens, so I decided to put hard ones on it.
Spent the afternoon setting them up.
Gonna use it for bigger breeze conditions.
The light-grey cuben-fibre main I use has medium battens and I
can't flatten the main enough for strong winds.
These are the last few days of the season, and I'm gonna
have a try at the mylar main. It certainly looked "more flat"
(less wing) when I yanked the downhaul on land.
5 Bf is a bit to much, solo on a T. So I'll wait for crew, this
weekend...
Grtz, André
Edited by catmodding on Oct 15, 2016 - 01:01 AM.
André de Bruin, Amsterdam,the Netherlands
P 18-2
If the picture of the batten is of the cloth that the main is made of, it's dacron, NOT mylar.
I'd use the dacron main for light air days, it won't fair as well as a mylar or cuben main under load.
wlrottge wrote: If the picture of the batten is of the cloth that the main is made of, it's dacron, NOT mylar.
I'd use the dacron main for light air days, it won't fair as well as a mylar or cuben main under load.
Now I am confused.
Yes, its the fibre of my new mainsail. The person
I got it from told me its mylar...
So, swop all the battens and go for the cuben main
in the windy conditions I'm expecting?
Grtz, André
André de Bruin, Amsterdam,the Netherlands
P 18-2
It's not Dacron. But it's not Mylar either. It's a laminate with a scrim fiber in it. I have a jib made with the same stuff from ep sails.
Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2
Actually it may be Dacron with a pentex scrim..
Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2
From my seat, clearly looks like a woven cloth. Dacron, propbably a radial weave. The shape its built to is more important than the cloth IMO.
catmodding wrote: 5 Bf is a bit to much, solo on a T. So I'll wait for crew, this
weekend...
High aspect, hybrid cloth, looks well sewn- sounds like a rocket engine to me!
Are you sailing it yet?
How does your crew like it?
Bob
Catmodding,
Where did you manage to find that nice looking sail? I've got an '85 Marstrom T that I've modified trying to get it up to more modern standards and the last piece I need is a squaretop mainsail. Not many folks buying these boats nowadays so used sails are a bit hard to come by.
I had a jib for my 5.2 that was cut with a similar material to accompany my laminate main. "square" by DP. It's a woven dacron very crisp and racy. Here is the spec, yours could be this or similar but I don't think that it is Mylar.
http://www.dimension-polyant.com/en/pdf/DP_Square_E.pdf
That square weave is most likely a DP Dacron as mentioned above; funny enough, I just received a new light air Dacron jib (similar material, but lighter) for my T on Friday from Landenberger.
Relative to mylar/pentax/cuben/etc. Dacron is quite a bit more "stretchy" and won't handle the kind of loads that one of the other sail cloths will. In the end, the Dacron sail will loose it shape more quickly than the other materials, especially if pushed harder/used in higher wind conditions. Not to mention, shape is more important in light/medium conditions, while being able to flatten the sail is more important in a blow.
Waxrules, I "might" have an older T-sport main that was cut for an aluminum mast that I might be willing to sell.
Edited by wlrottge on Oct 17, 2016 - 04:49 PM.
Right,
Went to the club and showed the main to the sailmaker.
its definitely a dacron main, "new generation" are his
words.
Tested the main, not at the predicted strong winds.
But 5-10 knts. And it is way to flat for those conditions,
Downhaul almost lose (wrinkles out), foot tension loose .
It was hard to lift a hull, and pointing high.
So, despite the suggestions, gonna use it for the "harsh".
Nice to have two sets of mainsails though.
Grtz, André
André de Bruin, Amsterdam,the Netherlands
P 18-2
waxrules wrote: Catmodding,
Where did you manage to find that nice looking sail? I've got an '85 Marstrom T that I've modified trying to get it up to more modern standards and the last piece I need is a squaretop mainsail. Not many folks buying these boats nowadays so used sails are a bit hard to come by.
Hello waxrules,
I'm in Europe, and got the main from a guy whom swopped
his alu mast for a carbon-mast. It is hardly used.
Brand of the sail is Ullman.
Regards, André
André de Bruin, Amsterdam,the Netherlands
P 18-2
catmodding wrote: Tested the main, not at the predicted strong winds.
But 5-10 knts. And it is way to flat for those conditions,
Downhaul almost lose (wrinkles out), foot tension loose .
It was hard to lift a hull, and pointing high.
Couple of questions/pointers.
- Batten stiffness and how tight were the battens?
- How much prebend in the mast (spreader rake and diamond wire tension)?
- Outhaul tension?
- Mast rotation?
- Most people don't realize that simply releasing the downhaul doesn't automatically make the sail more full. Sails go from flat to full to flat as you apply downhaul tension; too little tension and the draft will move aft and the sail will become flatter.
- Post a picture of the sail maker logo, depending on who made it (the Ullman name doesn't necessarily mean that it was made in an Ullman loft), you can probably get info from the sail maker on the intended setup.
wlrottge wrote: Waxrules, I "might" have an older T-sport main that was cut for an aluminum mast that I might be willing to sell.Edited by wlrottge on Oct 17, 2016 - 04:49 PM.
Sent you a PM.
Waxrules, replied to your pm.