Sandy,

For the size sail you're talking about you wan't be doing much heavy
sewing at all. Any of the heavy stuff can be done by hand. You certainly
don't need the same weight material that a 35' racing machine uses 8-)

Just for jollys make the first one out of Tyvek, duPont advertising and
all. Either stick it together w/ double-sided carpet tape or sew it too.
Google for "tyvek sail" (w/o the quotes), several interesting ones in
there. nd googling for "polytarp sail" will get you many items in
addition to this one
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/sto.../polysails.htm which is a GOOD
source for lots of intfo anyway. NAYY...

That way you can get into sailmaking without breaking the bank.

Next try to find a local sailmaker and beg whatever lightweight
scraps you can, perhaps even (oh horrors) buying enough for a complete
sail. I think you will be FAR happier with sailcloth rather than some
"nylon" from Walmart's. For a mainsail you certainly do NOT want nylon,
it stretches too much, even rip-stop nylon won' t do so well. Sailmakers
use rip-stop nylon of spinnakers, not mains and jibs. What they use for
that is rip-stop dacron. Much less stretch in that.

Let us know how you make out, Pirate_Dave
--
In article , sandy wrote:
We're not quite finished with our first try at boat building. It's a
10' nesting sailboat of our own design and for novices, I must admit
that it actually looks like a boat! Now I need help figuring out what
to do for a mast and sails. I'd hoped to find some cheap sails on
Ebay but haven't seen anything much of the right size. So I'm
currently considering making the sails and probably the mast too.
We're thinking of maybe a spirit rig. All the info that I've found on
the web on sail making seems to center on tarps. I'm not convinced
that that's the way I want to go but I also don't want to have to buy
a snazzy new sailmaking sewing machine for this boat (my sewing
machine doesn't like trying to go through heavy sail material). I've
been looking at some probably nylon material at Walmart that looks
fairly similar to the snark type sails. Do you think this would work
or do you have any other suggestions?

Also appreciate any suggestions or links on making a mast. We're
thinking of either aluminum tubing or using a good 2X4.

Appreciate any and all suggestions.

Thanks!

Sandy