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Mainsail
http://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=35473		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  spinfly [ Tue May 10, 2011 2:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Mainsail
Hi, all have a question regarding my oem sail the mylar material is delaminated as to were you can pull it off in chunks. If i were to peal off all the mylar would the sail still be usable, on one side there no mylar the otherside there is so why just oneside. I do have a squaretop that i use but was wondering if i peeled it off if i could use or would it tear theres no holes in the fabric.Thanks
Author:  gmhendo [ Tue May 10, 2011 3:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mainsail
welcome to the de-lam club spinfly, plenty of us have that problem.

A sail maker cuts shape into the sail to give it effect. As the wind blows he wants a material that works to hold his design shape. Laminating Mylar onto Dacron increased the stability of the material resulting in better performance. It is only necessary to laminate one side. If the Mylar separates off the Dacron, performance of the sail drops sharply, and increasingly as the wind increases.
Removing the Mylar won't help, especially if it is still limiting the amount of stretch to some extent.
I don't know of any practical solution; if there is one out there I would really like to hear about it...
Depending on conditions (not too windy) the sail probably good for cruising, especially downwind :D .
Author:  mmiller [ Tue May 10, 2011 4:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mainsail
How old is the sail? Seems 80s and 90s vintage Mylar was not quite as good as it is these days.
Author:  spinfly [ Tue May 10, 2011 6:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mainsail
The sail is #142 1989 Stars and stripes edition. If i were to remove it the mylar coating would i be able to still use it or would it tear as i said theres no rips in.Thanks Brad
Author:  srm [ Wed May 11, 2011 3:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mainsail
As stated above, the mylar is critical to "locking in" the shape of the sail and providing structure. These sails are basically a composite of dacron and mylar in much the same way that your hulls are a composite of fiberglass cloth and polyester resin. You take away one of the elements of the composite and the whole part suffers.

Yea, you'll probably still be able to hoist the sail and go out and cruise around in light wind, but your sail is going to be a total bag and may even come apart in higher wind. Sorry to say, but your sail is toast. By the way, if its a stars and stripes sail, then it's at least 20 years old, so I'd say you got your money's worth out of it.

sm
Author:  divimon2000 [ Wed May 11, 2011 6:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mainsail
I pulled my mylar off and the sail went to toast. Big bag up there and went slow. glue it back on with 5200 or leave it flapping, better than off.
Author:  MBounds [ Thu May 12, 2011 5:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mainsail
divimon2000 wrote:
I pulled my mylar off and the sail went to toast. Big bag up there and went slow. glue it back on with 5200 or leave it flapping, better than off.
How about looking into a new(er) sail? This one is
Image
Author:  fastcat [ Thu May 12, 2011 1:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mainsail
If you do not race you might want to look into an aftermarket sail that is not a mylar laminate. The OEM on my 2000 H17Sport started to delaminate in 2003. I replaced it with a Pentex square top sail in 2004 that I still use today (I get out on the water 40+ days a season) and in a local regatta 2 weeks ago I blew past a veteran H17 racer who had a new OEM sail (4 out of 4 races, it wasn't even close). Of course it did not count because they had to put me in an open class due to my unfair advantage. It was still fun being the fastest boat out there. :wink:
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