This Forum is supported by C&C 27 owners like you whose membership in the C&C 27 Association makes possible this Forum and the accompanying site. Thank you, members, for your continuing commitment.
You are not logged in.
Pages: 1
Have a 1980 Mark III 27 C&C bought it in spring 2004 and don't know must of the boat history. Only that it did not do much racing. Need help to evaluate the main sail. How can I decide when to change it or get some work done on it. We do mostly cruising in Northumberland strait costal. N.B./ PEI.
Brideau
> How can I decide when to change it or get some work done on it.
These are separate questions. You get work done on a sail when it needs repair. You replace a sail when repairs no longer do you any good. If you race, this question is very simple. You buy new sails when your boatspeed is off the pace. If you only cruise, the quesion is more nuanced.
Get work done on a sail when: <ul>
<li> it has an obvious defect, such as a hole, or a rip in it, or when the stitching has come undone;
<li> when the cloth has stretched to the point that the sail has problems setting correctly (this may apply to dacron sails, not laminate, and usually manifests itself as a problem like uncontrollable leach flutter):
</ul>
Get a new sail when: <ul>
<li> when you frequently need repairs - a lot of broken stitching, etc, in the absence of an obvious chafe problem, usually means an over-tired sail;
<li> repairs don't solve problems like uncontrollable leach flutter;
<li> no amount of tweaking will put the sail's draft where you want it to be - it always goes where it goes and that's the end of it;
<li> you put a sail needle through the dacron cloth and the fibres don't part, they simply break.
</ul>
Whether you race or cruise, sailing is more fun with new or newish and well looked after sails that respond to sailor input and make your boat go. If the sparkle has gone out of your sailing (and I suspect that you're asking because you suspect that it has), it's probably time to start investigating sailmakers.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Last edited by (2005-11-15 07:56:53)
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Offline
I would have to say that if you can not acheive good sail shape and form under sail....replace it.
Billerina
Hull #33
Pages: 1