Hello! Thank you! ...and sail wear question!

Hey all!

Been lurking for a few years, and have found this forum extremely helpful! So...thanks for that!

I bought a used Getaway a 2 years ago for sailing on a small-ish lake in the Muskoka region in Ontario, Canada. Though I've grown up around boats and water, it is my first sailboat, and I've had a truly wonderful time to date trying to teach myself to sail. There's been plenty of chirps from family and neighbours as I struggle to tack (and often have to paddle my way thru to pull the bow around); but hey -- I figure it's part of the journey!

Anyway; advise from this forum has helped me learn to rig the boat, replace tramps, etc. so...thanks again!

My newest question is specific to sail wear. I will attempt to attach a photo, and would appreciate any thoughts on the following:

1. Is it normal?
2. Is it concerning?
3. Advice for repairing?
4. Any tips for sail storage to help reduce this?

Cheers!

--Jamie.

Simplest fix is to purchase some insignia cloth which is dacron with a really good adhesive on the other side. It won't match your sail color. You can get insignia cloth from sailmakerssupply.com . Put the patches on both sides.

The cause of the wear is probably the sail rubbing on the shrouds when you are going downwind. Many sail makers put sacrificial patches at those locations. You might also check your shrouds to see if there are any hooks/rough areas. You can reduce the opportunity for this happening by pulling the mainsheet until the sail isn't rubbing against the shroud. Most of the time you will have more fun by reaching downwind (zig - zag) rather than running directly downwind.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

There are vinyl patches at the points where shrouds touch while sailing. When did this damage occur?

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I believe they were put there by the previous owner. It's an old boat and I am the 2nd owner. It's a 2001 (I think), so it's seen some action.

Great advise, thank you!

In my scenario I get to enjoy a NW wind as I'm heading south home, so it's not generally the case that I've got the sail way out to the side...that being said, the previous owners may have!

I'll check out the tape. I'm more after function that fashion with my setup. It's an older boat and quite faded, so I'm ok with a little patchyness

If the wear is not from rubbing against the shroud (and Matt says that there should be a vinyl cover there), then look for some other cause to eliminate. Pretty obvious that it has been rubbing against something (shipping Damage?). If it has been that way since you got the boat, you just need to fix and move on being cautious not to repeat previous owners mistakes.

The insignia cloth is actual fabrics you will get to cut the patch to suit your self-could even spell your name if you want to get fancy. Every boat owner should own a yard for patching sails.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

Jamie

Welcome! I struggled with tacking a cat at first as well. I grew up on a monohull which, having a single keel acting as a pivot point, turned much easier. The trick with a cat is to gradually turn upwind until your sails are nearly fully sheeted in. Then while still having forward momentum, finish the turn into the wind leaving the sails sheeted and letting the jib backwind and push the bows around until the main switches sides and fills. Then you can unsheet the jib and switch it. Don't try to turn to hard as the rudders will only act as an anchor and you'll end up stalled.

As for the tear in the sail, I tore mine on the second outing with the boat (inexperience trying to sail up to a dock). Had a sail maker sew in a patch that's nearly color matched on the blue part of the sail. Zigzag stitched and has been fine for the last 7 years and counting.

Good luck with the sail repair and learning about your boat.
Keith

_________________
2002 Getaway - SOLD in 2018 "Cheshire Cat"
2016 AI - Bought used 3.18.23 "Crabby Puppy"

I have a relatively new Getaway [Feb 2013] with similar sail wear. The sail - a "genuine" Hobie USA made sail has clear plastic sewn on each side of the sail along the batten holder where you would expect the rub points to be. However a number of the clear plastic sections are nowhere near the rub points. Worse still some other plastic strip ends intersect where the coated shrouds touch which has led to the shroud coating becoming damaged with rough edges. These rough edges on the shroud coating in turn cause even faster sail wear at the intersection of the plastic "protection" strip and raw sail material. So for my Getaway (1) sail wear points wrongly placed, along with (2)cracked hull, (3)soft upper-deck of hull [under warranty replacement hull unknown to me shipped to another country for me to pay freight from there] , (4) batten protectors severely cracking from corrosion "exploding" at rivet points and (5) local dealership folded so now no in-country dealership to support warranty which was key reason for buying two boats [H16 and Getaway] from the then in-country dealer. A clear set of genuine Hobie Getaway design and management failures.
Have many photos but not sure how to post these.

Hi Robert, sorry for your woes. As I said earlier, you can (and should) get some insignia cloth to cover the wear spots on your sail...if the coating on your shrouds is abrasive you can either apply something to smooth them or take some fine sandpaper and smooth the rough edges.

You might want to take a look at your mast rake, as well. If your mast rake is incorrect, the vinyl patches may appear to be in the incorrect location. I was surprised when I got my Getaway as to how far back the mast was raked, but I know it to be correct because there is very little weather helm while sailing. That being said, I'm not disputing the issues you have with Hobie, I just am pointing out something else to look at to try to fix this sail wear problem.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

I had the chance to go sailing today and looked closely at the batten vinyl covers as they hit the shrouds. In fact they are in the wrong spots. The bottom two would hit the shrouds if I let the sheet out far enough, but the top three all need to be closer to the mast. Oh well...

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

Hi TPDavis. Thank you for your earlier comments and later follow up which appears to confirm my concerns.
The insignia cloth idea is a post event solution and is fully understood. I have placed tape on the wear areas in the meantime. Just a few broader points.
Firstly, I have had the boats [Getaway and H16 since new - (one boat gets lonely I thought) - from February 2003 bought from the then Hobie Dealer in Vietnam. [I was persuaded by the local and overseas Hobie people to get them from VN as the warranty would be more effective locally]. The original set up for both boats was undertaken by the then local Hobie Dealer an experienced sailor in his own right. This setup has not changed.
Secondly, my original point is that the sail on the Getaway that I have has what I believe to be a fundamental design fault. Of the eight batten pockets five have clear plastic [vinyl] protective strips sewn on sections. Presumably the reason they are clear rather than a different colour to that particular sail area is to compliment the sail design colours which feature prominently in all Hobie promotional material. Plus the plastic is relatively hard wearing when rubbing against another plastic being the shroud coating. The sail tape solution is white so the sail looks as if it is patched with band-aids.
Of the five plastic coated batten pockets only two do the job they were intended to. This appears to align with your experience. Three of the five clear plastic strips do not do the task for which they were intended as the shrouds either can never touch them or are wrongly located on the sail. For example the plastic strip on the 4th batten pocket from sail top is just below the tang and is sewn hard up against the luff/mast. No amount of mast rake/positioning will ever cause this plastic strip to contact a shroud. The next two batten pocket protection clear plastic strips come near the shrouds and at times touch them - thus causing the chafing point on the shroud coating where the plastic strip ends. The lower two battens protective strips sit properly midway where the shrouds rub and do the task for which they were presumably designed.
No amount of mast positioning can change the relationship of the shrouds to the upper three clear plastic strips to make them effective.
I know that the sail wear issue in not covered by the limited warranty Hobie provide and that they are unlikely to admit the design/manufacture failure based on my past experience with a hull failure.
I would welcome others experience on this.
Robert R
H14 - 1975
1978 Onward various others - Etchell, Young 88
2013 - H16 and Getaway
2014 - Kayak - Mirage Oasis

Photo of sail wear next to protective strip.

[url]http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/RobertR271/media/Sail%20wear_zps0pgnvq1i.jpg.html?filters[user]=145403074&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0[/url]

Hi, Robert. Sail wear issues are usually something you deal with your sailmakers over (as I know you know having had boats other than hobies)...yah, we get our sails from the boat mfg and can't deal with the sail makers directly. It is an easy fix for a sailmaker, so I suggest you find a local sailmaker or canvas shop so you won't have band-aids. I very rarely have the sail that far out, so I'm not seeing any wear patches...yet. yah Hobie "should" have their loft change the location of the patches...but it isn't something likely to be a top priority.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

Hi tpdavis.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Yes I agree it is something a sailmaker could easily handle however I have my two Hobies - the Getaway and H16 in Vietnam where I live part of the year.
Unfortunately sailing is in its infancy in Vietnam and I have not been able to access a local "sailmaker". And the local dealership is now located in Thailand after the Vietnam Dealer ceased.
Not an ideal situation all round.

Gotcha! Absent a sail maker or canvas shop, you can do it yourself in about a half hour for each cover even without a sewing machine. You will need a stitch remover that you can get at any fabric shop--it looks like a tiny hook. It has a sharp razor edge inside the hook. You will need to unstitch the existing patches to move them over (Alternatively you can buy some more vinyl, but it isn't really needed). You will also need either a handistitcher or awl so you can sew them back on to cover the wear patches. I don't think you need to worry about actual repair where the batten is showing through, but you might consider pretty'ing it up with some matching color Sharpie.

If you buy a new sail from Hobie, move the patches before you use them to avoid this problem going forward.

I know Hobie should feel responsible, but I don't look to the manufacturer to fix stuff anymore unless it is structural and an obvious issue (like the hull cracking at the crossbars). Manufacturers (all of them) want new boat sales, and want to do the minimum to keep their reputation...sail wear isn't likely to chase any would-be buyers away--actually, I'm a little surprised that they bothered to put these patches on to begin with--it's not something you usually see insails this small or cheap.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II