We just received the designs back from Precision Sails. We are super excited but have no idea what to look for in these sail designs. What do you think?
Material will be a 400 series Dacron (7.3 oz SPX 725 Bainbridge High Modulus High Aspect cloth) with oversized reinforced radial corners. We went for durability/strength over the performance of a radial design. And saved a bit of cash at the same time.
Main
Four partial batons for ease of raising/lowering and two reef points. Wanted to keep it plain and white so no draft stripes or numbering.
Foresail
We are replacing our 130 Genoa with a 115 Jib to make tacking easier and better for heavier winds. We found ourselves constantly partially furling our genoa. And later on planning to get a lighter foresail for light winds. Code Zero? Assymetrical Spinnaker? Not sure yet.
What’s your opinion on the logo? We are proud of the logo but not sure what others think about having it on the sail. No plans to race so we don’t have the boat number on any of the sails.
Sail track issue
We are also adding a new sail track from Tides Marine to our mast to improve the ease of raising/lowering the main. Currently takes a lot of effort to raise our main. It will also address two other issues:
- We have a a small nick we have in our current track
- Our main slugs get caught in the gate
But we hit a snag… the documentation from Tides Marine states that the mast gate opening must be at least 3″ high and 9″ above the boom. Our opening is just over 2″ and about 7″ above the boom. This spacing is needed to be able to slide the new track into the mast. I am contacting Tides Marine to see if there’s anything we can do while the mast is on the ground over the winter (without requiring a Dremel!).
What do you think?
Let me know your opinion, good or bad. I want to hear from you, use the Reply box below.
September 25, 2020 at 7:56 am
Hi Shane,
Nick from ‘Bellos’ CS 36 T, sailing Lake Ontario and Bay of Quinte.
Sails look great, logo included.
We replaced our sales two years ago with Precision And they also recommended a 115. So far we are very please with them and the smaller sail, with the exception I notice I’m having a issues with the leech I need to contact them about. Aside from that, we love our sails.
All the best,
Nick
September 25, 2020 at 8:21 am
Hi Nick, thanks for the feedback. Great to hear the 115 is working for you, we were a bit hesitant on the decision. Let me know how it goes with the leech. Anything I can mention to our designer?
September 25, 2020 at 9:04 pm
Yes to the 115! We also got a quote from Precision for a 115, but not ready to bite just yet.
We like a clean sail too and removed our numbers and logo when we packed the sails away for Hurricane Teddy.
Logo looks great!
September 26, 2020 at 12:18 pm
Thanks! We are really looking forward to the new sails! Keep an eye on their site, I’ve heard they offer discounts at various times. We got a 15% discount. I heard they may be even better sales, ie. Black Friday, Boxing Day, …
I really miss being on the ocean, but don’t miss some of that crazy weather! I hope there was no damage during the hurricane!
September 26, 2020 at 11:53 pm
Hi Shane,
I have several comments on the design of your main…I think you should have the CS logo on your main. You appear to be proud of having a CS 34 so you should have the traditional CS logo, not the weird CS script logo they used for the 34 so other s can clearly see what you are sailing.
I don’t know what slugs precision sails use, but I have large Heavy duty slugs with my North main so bring the sail Up and down is no problem, much better than the original Hood Sail, so I am not certain you really need a new sail track if Precision sails avoids using the traditional plastic slugs.
I have a radial design with Dacron cloth…I am not sure of the cloth weight, but the cloth come from North. The top batten on my main is a full batten, the remaining 3 are partial battens. I like this set up as well. For main sail shape you might also consider having them add a Cunningham Kringle. You don’t need to use it, but it nice to have the option if the need arises.
It was unbelievable the difference in my boats performance between the old main and the new main. I would make sure you talk through some of these issues with Precision Sails or look for a second opinion on your design.
Craig
Seaya Later
CS34 #8247
this other modification if you have this taken into account.
September 27, 2020 at 10:41 am
Thanks Craig for all the information!
Regarding track, we are also addressing two other issues. There’s a small chip in our track that we think the slugs are getting caught on and our screw on track gate also snags the slugs. This system also comes with stronger stainless steel slugs.
Precision Sails also mentioned a Cunningham, I will double check on that! No idea how to use one yet, but look forward to learning.