The time had come
for me to focus on another panel. I chose the center panel to attach just
the patch to, then I moved on to the foot assembly by following the same
procedure, only this time the panels were much longer and I would need
two to attach the foot patch and then a third to attach the clew patch.
On I went with the assembly.
In this picture you will notice what appears to be ripples in the sail,
this is not the case however. The panels are basted together, and stitched
together just as intended, you can just begin to see the belly of the
sail, and this is something I don’t think I would have even come
close to had I chosen to make a tarp sail.
I then attached the next panel so that I can add the last
remaining patch and then put the two sub assemblies together into the
sail. Here you can really see the sails belly, this is just before I basted
and stitched them together.
Now it is time to attach the next panel so that I can add the last remaining
patch and then put the two sub assemblies together into the sail.
In this picture you can see how the tube is used to hold and guide the
sail through the machine.
It was time now to attach the upper and lower large assemblies into the
sail proper. Here you can see that I have rolled up the foot and peak
sections and basted the two together for stitching, then a shot of the
full sail with all of the patches on.
Moving on to the finishing of the sail there is still much work to be
done. The leech is constructed by making a double fold hem. This is done
by folding the extra cloth over once until it touches the edge of the
sail, then folding it over again and stitching. This Dacron even at 4
oz can be stubborn and does not like to hold a fold, even with the basting
tape holding it down. It wanted to separate and unfold so it was difficult
to hold it all together and straight at the same time.
Now for the final hems along the remaining three sides, this is done with
a three inch wide pre-folded strip of Dacron. The instructions say that
it is not necessary to baste it but I did just so that it would stay in
place easier. I had thought that this would be one of the harder steps
of the process but as it turned out it was the easiest. I had all three
sides done in a matter of no time.
With all of the sides hemmed I moved on to the installation of the grommets. My sail called for four #4 size grommets at each end and number 1 along the luff, head and foot. I am going to leave it a loose footed gaff at least for the time being to see if I like it that way before I add grommets to the foot however. The measurements for the grommets say to put the #4 3/16 from the inside edge, this is from the outer edge of the grommet and then space the #1 grommets at a specified length between the #4.
I borrowed a kit John Teetsel had gotten from harbor freight made specifically
for this purpose. They sell the whole kit for less than anyone else wanted
for just one size. I placed a scrap piece of mdf under the sail and proceeded
to punch the holes for the grommets and then pound them with tools I had
bought with the kit.
The final step was to add some webbing to the clew and peak.
I should have basted them because you cannot see the bottom of the webbing
as it is being stitched and I was a bit off, but I just stitched until
it was secure.
Here is
the final product folded up and out of the way; at least until I make
a proper sail bag for it to go into, but that is another story?
In conclusion this was a great project and a wonderful learning experience. It had its moments of frustration but those have been quickly forgotten as I look at the sail I made with my own two hands, and a lot of advice and help from others who have taken on this same project. A few recommendations I have thought of which would have made this an even better experience would be to make a sail bag or ditty bag or something along those lines, especially if you are like me and have never sewn before. A project like that would have given me all of the skills needed prior to tackling the sail which would have made it just that much easier. Another is to defiantly have a large smooth surface to work on. When it is on the carpet it will not slide which is imperative to a nice stitch.
Back Yard Yacht Builders
A non-commercial association of amateur boat-builder enthusiasts.
All our wooden boats are Stevenson designs.