North Sails
I have asked North for a quote for a new fully-battened main and furling headsail. I will be interested to see what the quote comes in at....
--ANdy
Tony Irwin Regular crewmember
Posts: 25
(16/8/05 9:10 am) Reply
Re: North Sails
Ask Hyde for a quote as well; their sail shaping is very good.
Tony
It is not as much as I thought it might be -sorry I don't have it in front of me as I type- but was in the region of £2200.00 for the main (radial, 3 reefing points, re-using existing luff cars) and £1500.00 for the headsail (135%, radial).
--Andy
Tony Irwin Regular crewmember
Posts: 26
(17/8/05 10:28 am) Reply
Re: North Sails
Hyde's price was for a conventionally battened sail, but in a very good cloth and was for 1150 inc VAT. An extra one thousand pounds is a lot to pay for full battens. A quote for a 145% genoa, in DC44/55 polyester cruise laminate with triradial build and including foam luff is about the same as North's.
The only problem with the mainsail is that they made the roach a little bit oversized, so it does catch on the backstay, but I can live with that until I get it adjusted at the end of the year. If they make a genoa as well as they make a mainsail, I had better contact them and order it immediately!
Tony
Sails
Andy,
The sail prices seem awfully high to me. I had my sails measured and computer designed by a naval architect here in the States who works with a loft in Hong Kong/ China. The finished , delivered to US cost for a mainsail was around $1000 USD 4 years ago. Even adjusted for inflation, it is still much less expensive. The mainsail is a standard sail ( not fully battened) with 3 sets of reef points, radial corners, top quality Bainbridge sailcloth and top quality hardware/fittings . Construction is excellent. The main now has 3 years of heavy use in the tropics and is doing great, plus speed, heel and pointing ability is very good. I also had a 125% furling headsail made by the same folks for around $900 USD. Sail sets beautifully, reefs well,boat is fast and after 3 years in the trades, the sail felt brand new when I took it off for hurricane season layup. In my opinion, you are paying a whopping premium for a North logo for sails for a cruising boat.
Tony Irwin Regular crewmember
Posts: 27
(17/8/05 3:51 pm) Reply
Re: Sails
Your comments are interesting; I have bought racing sails for many years for a Ruffian 23 and other boats and I expected to get a substantial drop in price when I bought the Nic 31 and settled down to a gentler life of cruising and the odd club race and regatta. Prices have not dropped for me; I see in the journals etc that the higher tech cloths are becoming accepted by cruisers as suitable for longer term cruising, so that the cost of hi-tech should drop as it becomes more widespread and the initial expenses are recovered by the big sailmakers. I will certainly be buying a roller genoa made from laminates, whether more or less cruising oriented. i must think more on this.
Tony
Re: North Sails
I am now in the process of having one made in France according to my specs with a lot of special details using Hayward sailcloth. It will cost me about 2000 euros.
North Sails
Andy,
Will your local North loft actually build the sails, or will they be built at a major North loft and shipped in to him for install...just curious.
Re: North Sails
I don't know for sure, but I imagine our 'local' loft in Gosport, UK will make the sail and install it. I will check with him this morning.
sails
Andy,
I'm sure that North will provide you with a good suit of sails. Do they cut the cloth using computer guided cutting machines in Gosport? Curious as always..
I'm heading back to the Caribbean soon. Have a good winter.
Re: sailsI'm sure that North will provide you with a good suit of sails. Do they cut the cloth using computer guided cutting machines in Gosport?
I am not sure. I was impressed with the rep, who definately knew his stuff. He took his time and answered all our dumb questions. I think we are going to hold off taking delivery of the sails until next Spring.
laminate sails
Tony,
I talked with my sail designer/naval architect today about the use of the high tech laminates for cruising sails. He maintains that the small % increase in performance on a cruising boat like the Nic 31 is not worth the high % price differential for the higher tech sails . The loads on our sails are not high enough to justify the price of exotic materials. He agrees that the more exotic sails do make sense when you reach large enough boat sizes that translate into very large loads on the sail cloth. For ease of handling and long durability high quality dacron is the best for our Nic 31's.
harrison
MisSailor
Unregistered User
(12/10/05 2:46 pm) Reply
Hong Kong Sails
Harrison,
I'm intersted in the info for the Hong Kong loft.
My next project is to redo the 1976 standing rigging. I'm worried about finding good-quality stainless. Does anyone have suggestions?
I am sure they ship internationally. I could check for you if it would help at all.
--Andy
Tony Irwin Regular crewmember
Posts: 40
(12/10/05 4:53 pm) Reply
rigging
I am considering replacing my standing rigging in a year or two as well. I have decided to stay with the original size of rigging wire, but to go up in strength, by using Dyform 1/19, which is made from shaped strands that sit tightly together, with much less stretch and corrosion and 30 % more strength. It should be available everywhere.
Tony
than the old wire.
Sails
If you are in the US, contact Graham Byrnes, B&B Yacht Designs, Vandemere,N.C. Graham is my source for the sails made in Hong Kong / China. Graham designs the sails, has them built in China. website:
www.bandbyachtdesigns.com
As for re-rigging:
I was able to obtain high quality 1 x 19 wire in 316 stainless without a problem. With 316 grade stainless, you do sacrifice strength slightly but gain resistance to corrosion over standard 1 x 19 rigging wire. This was important to me since my boat has been in the tropics for extended periods.I re-rigged my entire boat myself using Norseman mechanical fittings instead of swages. It is fairly easy if you take your time on each fitting and follow instructions carefully.
Although I agree with Tony that the Dyform wire gives you added strength with less stretch, Dyform isn't necessarily easy to find in the smaller sizes used on our boats if you are in out of the way places. If you use mechanical fittings Norseman's or other brands, you may have to use special cones in the fittings if you use Dyform 1 x 19 wire.
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