sandy ) writes:
Thanks for the suggestions. I've got a couple more questions.

1. We plan to carry the boat on our "new" motorhome and use in small
lakes for messing around and also quite a bit of fishing. Which type
sail rig would be best for these uses? We'd like something where we
can take down sail easily when we are fishing and that can store
easily at our campsite.

A sprit sail is unshipped by folding the sprit up against the mast,
lifting the rig out of the mast step, and rotating the mast to wrap the
sail around the mast and sprit. The sail, mast, and sprit can them be laid
down in the boat. I do it all the time with mine because I switch back and
forth between sailing and paddling a lot. The blue canvas sail on my
website is easy to put to gether and take apart right in the boat because
its so small, light, and has a mast sleve.


2. I've tried sewing on an old piece of sail material with my sewing
machine and it didn't work. But the material is really heavy duty.
Will I be able to sew 4 oz dacron with a normal sewing machine? And
do I need special thread (or can I use a good quality polyester thread
from our local fabric store)?

I had no problems making the nylon on my sewing machine. People who have
made sails on household sewing machines have recommended a heavy duty
needle. People sew sails for small boats by hand, a couple of winter
evenings. The mast sleve on my canvas sail was sewn by hand. The edges
were hemmed when I bought the cloth second hand.


3. Hubby is leaning toward aluminum tubes for mast. Will be looking
into flagpoles. Any other suggestions on thickness or ?

People have mentioned using aluminum electrical conduit. It would be
thinner and lighter. You want the thinnest mast that will do the job
because of the way a mast disturbs air flowing over the sail. For the
fussy sailer a mast sleve smooths the air flow around the mast. How big
(height, square feet) is your planned sail?


Sometimes I realize that I don't know enough to know what questions to
ask!

Don't worry about it. Keep asking until you do.

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