Need advice repairing brown/tanbark H16 sails

I recently got a set of Hobie 16 sails off of craigslist, and they are in pretty good shape except for a couple of small holes here and there. Also, there is wear along the batten pockets where they have rubbed against the shrouds that I want to cover as well. The problem is that the sails are brown in color, and I can't find any brown sail tape.

After searching the web, I learned that this color may not be brown but tanbark. Well, that didn't help, I still can't find any tanbark sail tape!

I have a set of Gonzo sails, the brown panels in that sail is pretty much the same brown as in these sails. I don't have a picture of the new sails, let's see if my attempt at sharing a picture of the Gonzo sails works:



You can easily see that the white dacron sail tape discs that I used to repair that sail in the bottom panel... I would like to avoid that with this sail (and perhaps re-repair my Gonzo sails) and use discs of dacron sail tape that are as close to the same color as the sail color to have them blend better and mask the repairs, at least from a distance.

My fall back plan is to use discs of kevlar sail tape that are clear but have brownish threads like this:



However this would result in shiny patches that wouldn't really match the original sails. Also, I don't know how well this would work on the batten pockets to protect against the shroud rubbing.

Does anyone know where I can go to get some brown / tanbark sail tape? I figure I need a couple of yards of 1" tape for the batten pockets and the discs. I would think Hobie or Murrays would have this kind of material for old sail repair, but I guess not...

Has anyone used the H16 Anti-Chafe Tape material on brown / tanbark sails and how does that look? This wouldn't cover up the holes, just protect them. Also, the current chafing marks wouldn't be covered up with this option, but they would be protected against future chafing.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks all!!!

Can't speak to the brown tape, but I can comment on the anti-chafe tape. I bought a pack of this tape for my H17 mainsail because the original vinyl chafe patches were wearing through in a couple spots and I needed a quick fix. Well after just a few sessions, the adhesive backed tape is already coming off. A waste of money IMO.

sm

Instead of colored tape, you might consider using clear tape made for repairing dacron sails:

Kiteaid
Tenacious Tape
Tear-Aid

I have had very good luck with Tenacious Tape.
Before you pull off the tape's backing, cut it to the shape you want. I recommend rounding off any corners so it is less likely to come off the sail later.

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL