Hello Brian, Most of the hand work, was just that Hand Work, and yes, the guys who did that work used awls and mallets as well as sail palms and upholstery needles and pliers. They sat in a corner of the big boat loft, behind stumps that they could pound into. Behind them was a wall filled with Heavy threads, headboards, patches and cringles of all sizes and shapes. The re-enforcing patches at the major stress points were sewn in with very heavy duty industrial surge machines before handing them off to these guys. Sails are expensive for good reasons, sure computer design programs have made it easier to layout all the panels for a beautifully shaped sail, but there is still a great deal of hand-craftsmanship built into them. Better way? It sounds like your carrying on true to traditional sail making.
Sail On, Sail On, Sailor Mark E M17F/D #103 AMY ----- Original Message ---- From: Brian Gilbert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:49:20 AM Subject: M_Boats: How'd you do it? Hey Mark: If you cut sails for Ulman, then maybe you know... how did you guys drive a needle through the corners of a sail? For the handwork and finishing, I mean. For example... I replaced the leather chafe patches on the corners of one of my sails. They were about 4, maybe 5 layers of resin-filled Dacron. My "sailmaking" machine wouldn't even consider punching through this stuff (My machine is similar to a SailRite Ultra, but not the genuine article. Probably from the same factory. With the Monster balance wheel, it wouldn't even go partly through.) I bought a bunch of good needles, but still couldn't come close to pushing the needle through (yes, I used a sail palm). Or when I managed to get the needle in, my fingers were nowhere strong enough to pull the needle through. In the end, I finished the job by punching a hole with a very sharp homemade awl, a stump, and a hammer, and then followed up with the needle. It was a giant pain in the ass and took forever. I kept thinking, "there's GOT to be a better way!" Is there a better way? Thanks BG Brian Gilbert Fix It And Sail, The Complete Trailer-Sailer On Dec 4, 2008, at 11:23 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hello, > How old is the sail? Lots of go fast boats I've raced on in the past > have had mylar laminate sails. > Some with carbon fiber, some with kevlar, all awesome performing sails > when they are new, but the one thing they have in common is a short > life span. They begin to loose their shape over time and the draft > shifts back. > If they've been subjected to heavy use during the coarse of a few > racing seasons they can start to come apart. > Then they become the rags we used for practice. > Unless you are one of those lucky guys who can buy new sails every two > or three years I'd stick with Dacron. > But there are some other fabrics out there that are a bit higher > performing than good ol' Dacron, that > are not laminates. > > Just reminiscing - I cut sails for Ullman once upon a time. > > Mark E > M17F/D > #103 > AMY > _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
