Today the snowy weather we have had in the N.E. United states broke long enough for me to get out and try my new sail i have made.
I have been wanting to build a sail for some time now for several reasons, first because i want a larger sail for light wind days and because my current sail is starting to show signs of wear and age and last because i cant take the 1980s -early 1990s HOT Pink color anymore. So i set up a large table indoors out of the cold and snow, bought a Chinese Walking Foot sewing machine, bought material and had a go at it. First just to hone my sewing skills i made a copy of my current sail. If it was ok i plan on another larger sail. Well it came out Great but not perfect. The luff or mast curve needs alittle adjustment ( which I expected ). The luff panel has some wrinkles that i need to work on, but once i get them sorted i will making other sails. The sewing machine has been great and useful for many other projects including CHEAP sail bags to store and transport sails. I will post another time on that project. The sail was inexpensive to build about $200 US dollars in material. i figure thats not bad for a brand new sail. it took about 2 weekends to build but the next one should go faster,but it was fun and will give me alot of pride to say i built it.