Thread: Sailmaking 101 for Goat Island Skiff, Beth

That I have. Does the tip clean up easily afterwards?

Yeah! Just finished the taped edge stitching, so technically I'm done sewing, and on to the grommets. I put down a triple row of tricot zigzag stitching on the double taped head and luff. I liked it so much, I went back and added a second row of stitches to the single taped leech. The machine made it through the thick stuff, thickest section was 12 layers in the double taped radial head crossing the single taped leech, probably even thicker at the radial clew with nine panels converging, five layers of patch and six layers of tape. At first it balked at getting through, like it was saying "really, you have got to be kidding, right?", but I read in the Sailrite stuff somewhere that if you put a bit of bar soap on the needle, it stops the seamstick from gumming up the needle, so I tried bar soap to see if it would help get the needle started in the thick layers. It did, and I am very happy for that!

no pics = didn't happen


Actually, I'm in no position to bug anyone about photos because all of my pics evaporated into the ether. But, I'm working to restore that issue and I've got my boat build blog back to full photo status. Next I'll work on my sail blog. I'm not sure if I'll be able to restore my forum threads, since 1) the forum cuts off editing after a (short) period of time, and 2) I might not have the stamina to go back and edit every post containing a pic.

Keep up the good work Andy!

Originally Posted by warm beer

Yeah! Just finished the taped edge stitching, so technically I'm done sewing, and on to the grommets. I put down a triple row of tricot zigzag stitching on the double taped head and luff. I liked it so much, I went back and added a second row of stitches to the single taped leech. The machine made it through the thick stuff, thickest section was 12 layers in the double taped radial head crossing the single taped leech, probably even thicker at the radial clew with nine panels converging, five layers of patch and six layers of tape. At first it balked at getting through, like it was saying "really, you have got to be kidding, right?", but I read in the Sailrite stuff somewhere that if you put a bit of bar soap on the needle, it stops the seamstick from gumming up the needle, so I tried bar soap to see if it would help get the needle started in the thick layers. It did, and I am very happy for that!

The sailmakers at the loft I worked below had a cotton ball - or might have been dacron cushion fill (like household furniture) on the top of the machine that the thread travelled through or against. It was occasionally sprayed with a silicon lubricant. Wonder if that would work as a soap delivery system?

MIK

Hey Mik,
I think I'll finally take your advice and put leech telltales on my new sail. I can sew them on if you think thats best. Where on the leech should I put them again?
Thanks,
Andy

Originally Posted by davlafont

...all of my pics evaporated into the ether. But, I'm working to restore that issue and I've got my boat build blog back to full photo status. Next I'll work on my sail blog...

As it turns out, my Lugs'l Chronicles blog was relatively unaffected and I only had to restore one post. So I invite you to click on the link in my signature and check out the pics and commentary on my sail sewing adventure. If nothing else, it should boost your self esteem to see to funky stitches I achieved!

Well, I can tell by reading your blog that you were MUCH more patient than I about rolling the sail while putting stuff together! Your sail looks great! Nice that you had a sewing machine that did wide stitches.
If I could do it again, I would add patience, and have way fewer crinkle marks!

All the grommets are in, I thought anyway, until I remembered that I had not put the small #0 gaff grommets in yet between the throat and the peak. Those are easy though.

The cheap hole punches I bought worked perfectly, as long as I used them on the concrete floor with a bit of cardboard. I first tried up on the table with a thick piece of plywood under the sail, but that absorbed too much energy. My largest punch was just a shade too small for the #4 grommets, so I used a leather hole puncher to snip a lttle around the edges, and all was good. The cheap dead blow hammer was perfect too.

The soldering iron worked perfectly to melt the edges, and seal up the corners, thanks for the tip.

I finally had an "oh bleep" moment. Putting a #4 grommet in, and after one tap of the hammer realizing that I was rushing, and had not put the top part of the grommet in place. Half an hour of slowly bending the grommet male back to shape with pliers, and all was well though - added the female and drove it home.


I took a bunch more photos, will post those later.

Hoping for good weather this weekend for a test drive!

Originally Posted by warm beer

Hey Mik,
I think I'll finally take your advice and put leech telltales on my new sail. I can sew them on if you think thats best. Where on the leech should I put them again?
Thanks,
Andy

Hi Andy,

Its normal to put them at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the way up.

Needs to be light spinnaker cloth or similar. Can be sewn on or cut a circle of stickyback sail cloth maybe 40mm diam - put a slot in the middle - put the leach ribbon (say 12mm x 125mm) through the slot from the non sticky side and stick some of it to one side of the sticky underside. Then put the circle folded over the leach so half the circle is on each side of the sail.

Can take a little bit of brainwork to make them more or less horizontal.

Usually the cloth with fray so it needs to be replaced occasionally. Fraying can be reduced by using a hot knife (it can be a knife that is hot - don't use a good one or it will lose its temper and never stay sharp after) or soldering iron to cut the ribbon so the edges are sealed.

MIK

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Its normal to put them at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the way up.

I'm thinking of adding some too. I think it will be easy enough to align them horizontal if I lay the whole sail out and key off the luff as a vertical reference. That will certainly work for the 1/4 an 1/2 marks.

I have on hand the standard kit with red & green strips meant for interior placement. I'd rather do leech tapes for the aesthetics, but also because I suspect I'll read them better. Should I install both halves, red and green, at the three positions above or should I use only one ribbon per location (and if so, is there a color convention?).

Andy, I too will be adding more photos, but I haven't taken them yet. I think the first will be of the mish-mash mess of cloth that is my current storage method, lest you think I'm totally organized and ship-shapey. My sail to-do list includes the telltales, reef patch installation (I have the patches cut and the holes punched) and reef point grommets. I'm not decided yet whether I will carry on with my plan to make those grommets by hand. I did one by hand and I'm not crazy with the results. I have some changes I want to try but if those don't change my mind I'll just hammer some brass and call it a day.

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Hi Andy,

Its normal to put them at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the way up.

Needs to be light spinnaker cloth or similar. Can be sewn on or cut a circle of stickyback sail cloth maybe 40mm diam - put a slot in the middle - put the leach ribbon (say 12mm x 125mm) through the slot from the non sticky side and stick some of it to one side of the sticky underside. Then put the circle folded over the leach so half the circle is on each side of the sail.

Can take a little bit of brainwork to make them more or less horizontal.

Usually the cloth with fray so it needs to be replaced occasionally. Fraying can be reduced by using a hot knife (it can be a knife that is hot - don't use a good one or it will lose its temper and never stay sharp after) or soldering iron to cut the ribbon so the edges are sealed.

MIK

Got it. Sailrite was nice enough to toss in a set of telltales with the sticky circles. I'll use them as leechtales. Sound better than sewing in place for when they need replacing.

All lashed and ready for sailing. If the weather permits - that will be tomorrow!

Here are a few more pictures - mostly more of the same from the last batch. The fun picture will be tomorrow.

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I think I'm going to have to do this.

First new sail test. Not even a fair test, and it did great!

Forecast was for 8 knots, but by the time I got to the harbor it was a steady 15, with whitecaps in the ocean, and the flags flying straight back. I debated not reefing, but figured that I now have a bigger sail with more power, so I set the first reef point, sort of. As my old sail did not have internal reef points, I only had one extra piece of rope small enough to fit through the reef grommet. This I put in the middle, after scrolling the foot.

The tack, I had a high strength carabiner, and the clew, hmm, I just attached my outhaul without a boom strap, and off I went.

The sail, though reefed has a totally different shape. Much flatter in the first few feet from the luff, much more curvature in the body of the sail, no hint of leech flutter. Instead I had a girt running from the yard block to the clew. I think this was because I did not have a boom strap on the clew. I'll have to figure that out later.

Still, I was off like a rocket. Pointing and boat speed were not a issue. I got to planing, even with the sail reefed, for everything below a beam reach. I did have a nice "oh bleep" moment tacking close to the rocks of the seawall. With the sail reefed, the sheet return to the boom end slid forward, and got caught on my tiller at just the wrong moment. I got into irons, and was about to say hello to rock, but I whipped out an oar and paddled the bow around to the safe tack, then unhooked the sheet from the tiller. I know how to fix this so it doesn't happen the next time I'm reefed.

There was a fellow on the rocks watching my misadventure. We both laughed when it turned out OK. Either way, reefed I had to be more aggressive with my tacks. Here are a few photos, none very good, as I had my hands full on the rail today. A few showing my poor reef rig with no load on the sail, and one going downwind showing my clew/block girt.

Very fun day, hard to come back in, and when I did, I went back out again! Two more people watching the boat sail, then wanting to know more about it when I got back to the ramp.
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We want videos of you sailing with your new sail!