Painting a Sail

No comic book super heroes or advertising logos. Just the UV strip.

Our new-to-us laminate jib is starting to fail along the edge of the sun cover; the cover makes a stiff spot and the flexing is damaging. The cover was also too small and is itself, failing (UV Insignia cloth). If I tried to sew on a new cover the needles holes would destroy the sail, and it's too old to justify the expense and effort, really.

If the ONLY thing we want to due is block the sun, why not paint? For the past year I have had samples of many different paints, ranging from house paint to specialized sail paints on racks on the roof, weathering. Naturally enough, it is a writing project.

I did a few minor repairs first. Yes, the strip tapers; you need more width at the clew than the head.  Normally I hate mini-rollers, but a 4-inch foam roller is just the thing for painting a sail. Pretty easy.

FYI, the sheets under the sail are there to protect the sail from the asphalt more than to keep the paint off the driveway.

Another advantage of paint is that it is light. I don't care about the effect on set, but I do care about the extra weight flogging against the vulnerable leach fabric. None of the sailmakers recommend Sunbrella, for example, on laminate sails. for this reason.

  Although the roof top exposure tests are not complete, I selected MDR's Inflatable Boat Topcoating. It seemed to be among the top performers, I've used it on inflatables, it got a top rating from Practical Sailor some years ago, and I had enough left over. Free is always nice.

No, I don't expect it to last as long as a Sunbrella cover. Neither will the rest of the sail. But it also cost me only 15 minutes work and $15 worth of leftover paint.

Look for a detailed report and follow-up in Practical Sailor Magazine.

Cruising Small, Cruising Fast

A New addition to the Bookstore

I started started sailing on a beach catamaran. I heartily recommend learning on a small boat, because they teach a sense of the wind and waves that is hard to gain on larger boats. But if you want to go farther or spend the night, you really need something with a bunk. But you don't need 50 feet of shiny fiberglass and the mortgage and slip fees that go with it. That's what they sell in the mags because that's where the (your) money is.

And to be honest, big boats aren't that much fun to sail, not after you get the hang of it. They're more about learning the systems and planning than actually sailing. Would you you rather go for a bike ride or drive a Winnebago around town? Personally, I'd take the bike, and that is why I downsized from a cruising cat to a 24-foot trimaran; the smaller boat sails better and I feel the wind again. I missed that on the cruising cat.

The thought that brought fire to my pen is that too many sailors feel that sporty boats are for racing. Poppycock. They are for whatever is fun, and if you only take the plunge, you'll see that fast cruising is a blast, though it can be a bit more like camping that staying in a hotel. Of course you can do both; sail fast from point A to point B, and then stay in a motel.

And that is the sort of thinking that goes into cruising fast and small. Ignore the magazines and make it work. You've never had so much fun!