WANTED Something to make a sail with

[Tengu]

A junk sail for my tender...its 8 foot long so I need about 40sqft.

Junk sails are made from pretty much anything; the Junk Rig Society generaly use polytarp but thats a bit stiff for my needs...remember it is self furling!

I would find useful;

The fly of an old big ridge tent
old camping tarps/ponchos
lightweight canvas.
an old sail

Maybe you have other suggestions? I hve a sewing machine so I can alter things...the construction would be very simple, -and I have lots of grommets.

I have a lot to trade as usual.

 

[snappingturtle]

don't know what would be good sail wise but I have some blocks and tackles for trade. old sail would be best I recall them being treated

 

[Toddy]

So two metres of 60" wide would do ?

You can buy ripstop nylon that size for under eight quid....probably cheaper than postage and barter at that price.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WATER-RE...ksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10&var=-1&varId=-1

You can even pick your colour

M

 

[oldtimer]

So two metres of 60" wide would do ?

I love the use of mixed units! I qualified as a teacher in 1969 and my first boss told me not to teach other than metric measurements as our pupils would live in a future world where only the metric system would be in use.

My wife is currently next to me knitting herself a sweater and frequently pauses to get me to measure bits of her. I do so in centimetres whereupon she turns the tape measure over and measures the work in inches. So much for the metric world.

By the way, mine's a pint!

 

[Toddy]

It's stupid isn't it ?

I learned and am happy using metric despite my age but it seems impossible to buy stuff like fabric without someone else giving it in inches. If it had been me describing it I'd have said 150cms wide, but that's apparently still known as 60".

Thinking on it though I got my sums wrong, Tengu would need more than two metres to do her sail because 60" is five feet and she'd need eight of them long to give her the 40 square feet. So eight feet in old money is 96" which works out at 2.40m. It'd cost her just pennies shy of a tenner then.

Children aren't taught to do mental arithmatic the way we had to slog through everything from capacity to money, to measurements to area and weights. Everything's in metric or they find a calculator/phone.

I like metric, particulary the Celsius to hang with fahrenheit. 0˚ is freezing and 100˚ is boiling and we're around 37

 

[Tengu]

Yes, sails and boats are often Imperial...

Its easy enough with a Bermudan rig; its a triangle.

So is the jib

So is the genoa

So, if you really must, is the gunter.

And a gaff is a triangle with a bit cut off...

But a junk rig is a parrelogram and a triangle....or just a plain perverse polygon...

 

[Toddy]

Why are you doing a junk sail ? would a lateen one not be more manoeuvrable on a dinghy ?
It's a heck of a log easier to make (and furl) than a junk sail with all those batons.
Not quite so capsizable iirc. since you don't need all the height to catch the wind.

M

 

[Tengu]

No idea how to use a lateen sail. or of their advantages.

Junk sails are a bit harder to make but easily used.

 

[Toddy]

So's a lateen. It catches the wind; you get the angle right and you sail

Sorry, that's a bit simplistic, but it really is what happens.

The little lateen sail is nimble and nifty, two line rigging, lets you tack agin the wind, great for beginners.

Big tall sails stretching for the wind need balast or keels to help keep you upright, and that said, I've seen two catamarans capsized and they're supposedly ultra stable. Too much sail and the wrong angle on them and over they couped. Pain in the backside to right they were too.
Junks rely on a huge rudder to act like a keel for their sails.
Dinghies/tenders don't usually have huge rudders.....which can be a pest inshore unless you can lift them up.
I suppose it depends on just what size of junk sail you're thinking of making though.
What are you intending to use as the batons ?

M

 

[oldtimer]

What about a balance lugsail? They were just the thing for Swallows and Amazons. Easy to use single-handed and easier to make than a junk sail.

Don't tell me you can't see yourself as a modern day amazon.

 

[daveO]

It's stupid isn't it ?

I learned and am happy using metric despite my age but it seems impossible to buy stuff like fabric without someone else giving it in inches. If it had been me describing it I'd have said 150cms wide, but that's apparently still known as 60".

I design everything in millimeters but most builders still work in inches and a lot of my clients still think in feet. I have to carry a paper mm to feet and inches conversion table around with me to avoid confusion. People always seem surprised when I don't know what 3875mm is in feet. You can try google but it seems to think that 12.71325' is a measurement.

I'll have a look and see if my dad still has the old sail from my dingy. He probably has as he never throws anything away. The dingy is still rotting behind his barn since the rudder sheared off and left me stranded on a mud bank for several hours back in 2001.

 

[Tengu]

Nay, Oldtimer, I have never been to the Lake District in my life...

I want to explore the Fal.

Dave O That would be most kind of you. plus if you can, fittings, fitting out a boat is what costs money. I need some small pulleys, shackles and those humpy loop things. I already have the wood for a mast, gaff and boom. I will use some bamboos as battens. I am going to make leeboards...but I do need rudder fittings!

The dinghy came with bouyancy bags, a pump and a spray dodger.

Oh, and rope! The small stuff I can use paracord but Junk rigs need a mort of sheets!

Its shocking what kit even an 8ft cockleshell requires.

Her name is `Sool`

 

[daveO]

plus if you can, fittings

I'll see what's left on the old dingy. Should be some helpful stuff on there if it's still in usable nick.

 

[Tengu]

Thats brill.

What would you like in return?

 

[daveO]

If there's anything usable it's yours for the price of postage but let me see what state it's in before you get your hopes up too far.

 

[Tengu]

Thats very kind of you.

 

[Grebby]

I design everything in millimeters but most builders still work in inches and a lot of my clients still think in feet. I have to carry a paper mm to feet and inches conversion table around with me to avoid confusion. People always seem surprised when I don't know what 3875mm is in feet. You can try google but it seems to think that 12.71325' is a measurement.

Look at an app called ConvertPad. I use it everso often. Does all sorts of conversions.