Question:
Where can a get some plans for sails for a typical sloop
rig for no cost (other than copy fees, postage, etc.)?
Details--
I got an RC Sailboat for my birthday from my dad-in-law. I think
it's called something like Victoria by Thunder Tiger. It's a
sorta-scale 12 meter.
I'm trying to customize mine a little so that it looks different than
my dad-in-law's. He has the same boat so we'll probably have some
fun races next summer. First, I'm going to paint a few of the fittings on
the hull. I was also thinking about modifying the sail.
The sail it came with is made out of a flat sheet of light-weight
rip-stop nylon. It has some hoakey logos and such printed on it. One
thing I was thinking of doing was just getting some rip-stop of
similiar weight and cutting a sail that is equivelent to the stock
sail that was just a different color. I was curious as to tips for
for cutting rip-stop. Will it fray if cut with scissors? I remember something
about using some sort of melting tools to cut sail cloth. I don't
know that that trick would work with rip-stop as the material is very
light. There are also no hems on the sail edges to cover up globbies.
The material just ends.
The other thing I was thinking of doing is cutting real-shaped sails.
The stock sails are just flat pieces of material. My primary
motivation is that I find the flat sails esthetically very
unpleasing. I don't know if a real cut draft in the sails would make
a lot of difference in performance because of scale effect. It may
make no difference at all. I think it would be really cool to show-up
to race dad-in-law with hot radial-cut fancy sails though :-) :-) :-).
So my second question is might you know where I could find some simple
(even plain-old horizonally cut would be okay) plans for sails? I'd
need a typical jib (about 80%, it's an autotacking jib on a boom) and
a typical main for a sloop rig. Dimensions wouldn't be a big deal.
Id just scale and adjust aspect ratio as needed. Something not to
complex would be best. The main sail is maybe 32"x14" so I don't
think it would be pratical to have a whole mess of panels.
Answer:
I cut synthetics with a modified soldering gun tip: you pound it into a wedge
shape and sharpen it a bit with a file.
Cutting some curve into the luff and foot will give decent shape to small
sails made with slightly stretchy material. If there is roach supported by
battens, some leech broadseaming will be necessary.
The only source of instructional books that I know of is Sailrite.
1-800-348-2769. Grants books are really simplistic, and the broadseaming
factors are quite a bit off for fast sails, but anything would be better than
the flat pieces of cloth you now have.
