Sail Repair?

Hey all

My account isn't working... so this is a temporary..

Anyway! I have an old 1979 sail that is quite nice, but there are the usual tears here and there. on the jib, on both sides of the clew plate, it's tearing slowly (really slowly, cuz I haven't really seen it get any bigger lately).

Obviously, thats a high tension area, can I use Sail tape to fix it? I once tried to sew it by removing the plate, but the fabric is so thick I couldn't get through it.

Then there are some other places that need some repair, but it's just batten pockets, and along the line in the sail that slides into the mast (can those be fixed? with tape?)

while on the top of repairs and such.... I have a 1979 hobie 16, besides the following (which I've replaced now) is there anything else I can do to bring it to the max it can be>? (new trampoline, all running + standing rigging, soft spot repairs, hull polishing, got the trap lines, rudders are good, mast is leaning as far back as possible at this point aslo)

for instance, will a newer traveler work on the old frame? I'm looking for a comptip (might have one soon),

Thanks!

Sebastian

What i would do around the clew plate is take the plate off and take it to a shoe or leather repair shop. I would also use the tape or another peace of fabric and sew it on top of the tear for renforcement. They have the sewing machines that would handle the material. Also a new traveler would fit but you would have to take the rivets out of your track to put it in. Do you have the harkin jib kit....i have it on my boat and its great. Its a possible upgrade if your just looking for something.

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Hayden 1988 national H16

It's very unlikely that you will be able to successfully repair any high-tension area of the sail using only adhesive-backed tape. The adhesive is just not strong enough by itself.

The only place sail tape may work is in the body of the sail.

I've had success doing my own repairs on sails. You can use a fairly heavy needle with plyers. You wan to follow the same needle holes that are already there. It takes a while, but it's doable. For really thick parts of the sail, use a sewing awl. I've successfully re-connected tack fittings to windsurfing sails using a sewing awl (extremely thick material).

Otherwise, just take it to a sail loft, they'll probably be able to do the fix in an hour or less.

sm

I highly recomend Morrelli sails in ventura, ca. They are the best and reasonable cost.

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Bodhisatfa

Thanks for the responses guys!

I figured the tears in the body of the sail would be fixeable with the tape. That's also a good idea to bring the jib to a shoe repair guy! I might give that a try sometime

thanks@!

Sebastian

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1985 Hobie 16 86068