Don't Unintentionally Wear Out Your Sails

The investment in dollars that you have tied up in sails is a high percentage of the value of your boat (usually).  And, there are really only two things that wear out the sails fastest.  1) Letting your sails flog and luff a lot; and 2) Sunlight.  Both of these are preventable items and preventing them will help your sails last a lot longer than if you don’t.

Simply being aware that every time your sail flaps back-and-forth, it wears on itself.  Kinda like bending a credit card back-and-forth… sooner or later the card will break.  Same thing with your sails.  Sooner or later the sail will rip.

Sunlight though is really a nasty item.  If you don’t cover your sail properly, the sun will beat down on the fabric and steadily (over time) deteriorate the material to the point that the sail will have about as much strength as a well used handkerchief.

Here are a few photos of sailboats that have left their sails out in the sun for days, weeks, and even months……

No sunbrella on the roller furled jib…

No sunbrella on the roller furled jib…

No mainsail cover.  The mainsail just lies there baking in the sun…

So, if you want your sails to last longer, treat them properly.  Use sun-resistant covers for your roller furling jibs and cover your mainsail when it is flaked on the boom with a mainsail cover made of sunbrella (or similar fabric).

BarnacleBillHolcomb@gmail.com

Keeping Things Where They Belong

Keeping Things Where They Belong

When Kathy and I ordered Snickerdoodle and bought her, the manufacturer had designed side shelves that ran along both the port side and starboard side of the main cabin and galley.  But, the shelves only had a small fiddle along the edge to keep things in place.  This worked ok if there wasn’t much breeze.  But, if the wind piped up and Snickerdoodle heeled much more than five degrees, the stuff on the shelves fell off and made a mess on the cabin floor.  We lived with this condition for a few years.  But, eventually, grew tired of picking up the mess.

There are several ways to prevent this mess from happening every time the boat heels.  One way is to never put anything on the shelves that could fall off.  I’d say that is impractical and a waste of space.  Another idea is to use “cargo netting” that is designed to hold the miscellaneous stuff that might find its way to the shelves.  Secure the netting just above the shelf.  Problem sorta solved.

                                         Yes, this photo is from a few (several) years ago.

See the net just behind my left shoulder?

A third way that works is to install a taller fiddle.  This is pretty easy to do with two pieces of teak “U” trim that you can glue to vertical pieces that extend between the shelf and the overhead.  I have these in Snickerdoodle’s galley right behind the stove.  These work great to keep salt, pepper and other seasonings – plus my coffee, et al – in place while we are sailing.  The two pieces of quarter inch by one inch wooden slats are easily removed to give easy access to everything.

The two slats keep everything on the shelf while sailing and all of the heeling that goes on.  Removing the two slats gives easy access.

BarnacelBillHolcomb@gmail.com