sails sailrite sail kits

[kpbroughton]

haveing built my pocket ship from the plans. i would like to make the sails my self to , so i can say i made it form top to bottom has any body had a set of sails from sailrite sail kits

[craig]

I plan on eventually purchasing the douglas fowler professionally cut sails, but like you I wanted to experience sewing my own first. I did not use a sailrite kit but have heard nice things about them. The good news is they will design the broadseaming for you, I believe, so you basically just need to sew the panels together. I chose to design my own sails using resources on the internet and books (The Sailmaker's Apprentice is a great reference). Construction went.... slowly.... but it was a fantastic learning experience and I'm moderately pleased with the result. I seem to sail to windward as well as other boats but have picked up a great deal of lee helm, which may be due to a less-than-ideal cut for my sails.

Message me if you want details on my construction and sail cut. If you're not concerned about price I would probably just do the sailrite kit.

And post pictures of your boat! Everyone loves to oo-and-aaahhh over new models of course!

[kpbroughton]

Had a estimate back from sailrite a kit for main and jib is $ 522.44 postage to uk is $116.00. a sem industril sewing machine on ebay is £150.00 seems like a plan?

[craig]

If cost is at all a factor, consider the "extras" you'll need to buy as well (perhaps these are included in the kit, I'm not familiar enough with their kits to know): spur grommets, 5/32 wire for the jib luff, grommets for reef points, sail track slides, and thread. It sounds like the price is roughly comparable to the CLC sails. But of course the enjoyment and skill of doing it yourself... it's a tough decision. As for me, I decided to go bargain-basement for now until I decide to "splurge" for the CLC sails. Mine is made of 6oz white polytarp, sewn on a $15 thrift store machine with V32 sailmaker's thread, and an all-up cost of about $75. And now I know how to sew! Couldn't say that before.

For the design, I used the Sail Dart Calculator to get me started: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/05/art ... v100bc.xls
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/05/art ... t/free.cfm

Lots of guesswork. It turned out OK. (If you or a future reader uses that calculator, the spreadsheet seems to under-estimate for the size of upper dart on the gaff. I used 1/2 of the size (width, not length) of the lower dart, but that was too much and my sail has a billow there. Next time I'll use 1/4 the width of the lower dart, which for me was I think 7 inches or something).