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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

What uses for old sails ?

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jbkayaker
Captain

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USA
299 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/19/2009 : 14:09:47

I recently replaced my Sun damaged roller furler genoa and it's ten year old companion mainsail. The main has always been covered but is stretched too much for racing. The 135% genoa (for a Catalina 250 WK) is falling apart where the tack and bottom edges were exposed to the Sun. I am tempted to use the sails for moving raked up leaves. Would it be worthwhile to convert the genoa to a smaller storm sail by having a sailmaker cut off the damaged strips and re-hem ? Is there any reason to preserve the main except as a spare ?

Edited by - jbkayaker on 11/19/2009 14:12:28

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2009 : 14:15:01

Make some great shorts.

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2009 : 14:32:50

I'd keep some pieces around for making repairs. I've used sailcloth for a number of things, upholstering my shop stool, patches on jeans, etc. I went to North Sails down in San Diego back when I lived there and asked if they had any scraps, they gave me trash bags full of them, some big enough to make a small sail from.

Storm sails tend to be made of thicker cloth, or at least ours is thicker than any of our other sails, including our main, so having genoa cut down to a storm sail might not be such a good idea, but certainly ask your sail maker about it.

Edited by - on

glen
Captain

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359 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2009 : 14:44:25

Move to a Great Lake state and use it as part of the ice boat you can make

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SailCO26
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2009 : 15:23:04

I "donated" an old genoa to some friends who use it for a shade when they have backyard parties. They get tons of compliments on it...

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jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2009 : 17:47:59

I'd make an anchor riding sail from it.

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Even Chance
Captain

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USA
393 Posts

Response Posted - 11/20/2009 : 01:17:02

There's a shop in Annapolis that makes clothes out of old sails.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 11/20/2009 : 04:48:31

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I'd make an anchor riding sail from it.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That's a great idea.

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jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 11/20/2009 : 09:25:28

Sailrite has a pretty useful instructional video:

http://www.sailrite.com/Anchor-Riding-Sails-Keep-your-Boat-from-Swinging-Streaming-Video

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 11/20/2009 : 10:14:27

Have it cut down to a 110.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 11/20/2009 : 19:21:28

We made a new Riding sail from the kit from Sailrite.

If you have an old sail, I saw someone use it as a 'tarp' wish I had one, as we replace tarps every 6 months!!!!

Paul

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 11/22/2009 : 09:54:12

My boat has hank-on sails, and the PO left a worn roller furling jib which I used to make 4 things so far:
<ul><li>A heavy storm riding sail from the 3 corners cut off and sewn together with 5' sides</li>
<li>A bimini top from a rectangle along the luff, that is lined with thin blue cotton the color of Sunbrella Pacific Blue, and that fits over a 6' long, white, bamboo frame with folding (sheer) lashings</li>
<li>A one-arm sunshade-sleeve tied to the tiller for those roasting summer evenings when the sun burns my steering arm</li>
<li>A small log bag for our woodstove</li></ul>I may never use the storm riding sail, and perhaps a large dihedral anchor riding sail would have been more useful, since I anhcor out a lot. The small, heavy sail doesn't work well at anchor, but it would give a lot of driving force when forced to sail in a steady 30+ knots wind, along with my storm jib. My storm jib is not triangular but looks like a miniature flying jib from the Cutty Sark.

What's the reason for that shape?

Edited by - JohnP on 11/22/2009 09:54:34

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