Hobie Sail Numbers Material

As a Christmas gift I received new sail numbers for my aging HC-18 main. The old numbers were so dry they were cracking and falling off. (The old numbers were sewn to the sails.) The new self adhesive sail numbers came and one of the eight sail numbers is different then the others. Seven of the numbers have a Dacron material textured finish. One (a number 4) has a perfectly smooth finish and appears to be more opaque than the others. (by the way I needed a quantity of four number 4’s. Three are textured, and on is smooth). Did Hobie change the material that the sail numbers are made from? Which is the current?

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John Latimer
'79 Hobie18 - Magnum
Sail#4854

Dude, your sail is almost 30 years old! If it's still going, I don't think I'd touch anything on it, those old sail numbers may be the only thing holding it together. I've got an 18 sail that's so beat I'm afraid it's going to come apart and it's almost 20 years NEWER than yours!

The numbers were stitched on a while back. I don't know if they also used adhesive or if they were only stitched on. The new style numbers only use adhesive. I've only seen the dacron numbers recenlty, nothing shiny.

One thing to look for, I think the font of the old numbers was different from the current numbers. If the new numbers are shaped differently then when you place them over the location of the old numbers, you may see an outline of the old numbers where fading or staining occured.

sm