"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
oups.com...

Edgar wrote:
You have bought a BLACK mainsail??



It's more of a smoked look. It's AKS 18 from Contender (Aramide
(Kevlar) fibre), which is 5.5 ounce for boats to 15000 lbs. The
Pentax-Mylar jib is 4.9oz Pentax sandwiched in Mylar film with
superlight White UV cover, and somewhat lighter in color. Of course
these are sails well beyond any of my needs, but they will also be fun
and have some longevity for our light sailing...and the price is
fantastic since I was able to trade a sail I couldn't use for anything.

Well, you may well do some 'light' sailing but I
suspect that the longevity of your sails is more likely to be determined by
the number of hours you expose them to UV rays in sunlight-especially the
black-or near-black- one. You would have done better to get a set of white
conventional sails.
Longevity is the last thing people who buy Kevlar sails are interested in

suspect that the longevity of your sails is more likely to be
determined by
the number of hours you expose them to UV rays in sunlight-especially
the
black-or near-black- one. You would have done better to get a set of
white
conventional sails.


They look more black than they are. In any case I spoke to quite a few
people about these sails before buying. Folks that we work with at UK
and Doyle both agreed that the Kevlar main dies a final death sooner
than a dacron sail. But they also felt that the Kevlar held most of
it's shape for longer. I can attest to this since the J29 I sail on has
a Kevlar main and it's 5 years old and still in pretty good shape. Of
course a Dacron sail can last 20 years, but how much shape is left at
that point? Also keep in mind that these are tri-radial. For 1200 bucks
and a lazy jacks system thrown in, it's an amazing deal.
Even if I owned a good set of dacron sails I would not have passed
these up!


RB
35s5
NY

Edgar wrote:
Well, you may well do some 'light' sailing but I
suspect that the longevity of your sails is more likely to be determined by
the number of hours you expose them to UV rays in sunlight-especially the
black-or near-black- one.

Yep. Flogging is also harder on them than on conventional
Dacron.

Longevity is the last thing people who buy Kevlar sails are interested in


Depends on how you define "longevity." Kevlar and other
hi-tech material sails don't last longer overall, but they
hold their shape longer. Thus they have greater competitive
longevity.

A set of fancy racing sails should be fitted to the rig,
taking into such accounts as pre-bend, inducable bend (ie
how far the mast bends when you haul the backstay on as
tight as you can), for headsails the halyard tension and
deck configuration of sheet leads is paramount. Without some
time spent by a sailmaker on board your vessel (or an
identical sistership), buying hi-tech sails is pretty much a
waste of money.

For one-design boats, obviously this is an easy hoop to get
thru. For high production racer-cruisers, it's usually
pretty easy but you have to know the class standards of how
your rig is set up & whether your boat is still nice & stiff
& if there have been any changes in the standard deck
lay-out. Such things as putting different locks & halyard
winches on can make a difference, especially with a frac rig.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Depends on how you define "longevity." Kevlar and other
hi-tech material sails don't last longer overall, but they
hold their shape longer. Thus they have greater competitive
longevity.


Doug once again repeats what I've already said.

Without some
time spent by a sailmaker on board your vessel (or an
identical sistership), buying hi-tech sails is pretty much a
waste of money.

Of course. These came off the exact same boat and I even spoke to the
original owner about it. The only difference in his rig is that he
improved his backstay adjustment, but he did this after the sails were
cut.
The main is here and looks NEW. Waiting for the genoa now!

And I can't wait to go sailing with these sails!


RB
35s5
NY