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I am to the point where I need to make or buy a sail for my Triad. The plans call for making a sail from a blue poly tarp. I will pass on poly tarp as a sail material so I need to either figure out what else to use or buy a sail or sail kit.

The sail for the Triad is a lateen. It is not terribly large, the plans call for using a 10' X 18' tarp. Only about half of the tarp is used. The gaff is 14' 8" and the boom is 10' 8".

I have looked at some Sunfish lateen sails that look nice but I wonder if the pockets for the gaff and boom are big enough on those for the 2X3 stock they are made from.

Locally I can buy rip stock nylon or a slightly tougher nylon if either of those are good for sail making? I can buy dacron online if thats better?

Any suggestions or ideas are welcome. I remember reading someone post about a sail kit they bought so if you think that is the best or just a good way to go please point me at a site or business

Polly tarp does make a quick sail and you don’t have to use blue, there are lots of colors including white. I think it would actually be better than ripstop. Dacron would probably be your best bet, from what I gather from other builders. I had a scorpion 14' sailboat years ago with a lateen rig on her and the gaff and boom were made of aluminum poles, you may want to explore alternate materials for your gaff and boom. If you went with a sunfish sail. here is a pic of the old scorpion...
This is not Mine but it is exactly the same boat.


Brian.

If you go the sunfish route check this place out

http://www.neilprydesails.com/store/sun.htm

I just used their 65 sqft Pram sail on a project and was very happy with the sail, price and service from Brian at Neil Pride Sails.

Before you decide to make a sail, read The Sailmaker's Apprentice. Check out Sailrite and Duckworth for supplies if you want good sail material. Sailrite will also make you a kit if you wish.

If you do decide to make a sail, it would still be a good Idea to make a polytarp sail first because they work well and are a cheap and easy way to try your hand at it.

Ok I will not discount the poly tarp sail. Actually I went to look at poly tarps and only found some blue and grey ones in Billings. I will keep looking though and there is always the net.

I am not opposed to using the sunfish/scorpion sails with the aluminum poles but would like to keep with wood if possible. The sunfish/scorpion sales do look nice and are very reasonable. I found sites where they sell new for around $180 and the site that Jim linked has some for $140!

I like the idea of a kit so will give Sairite a look. I already figured on using Duckworht for dacron if anyone felt that ripstop nylon was not the thing to use. This is not a big sail so it might be a good one to try if I ever wanted to make one.

I did order The Sailmaker's Apprentice! I also order The Complete Sailor: Learning the Art of Sailing and Learning to Sail: The Annapolis Sailing School Guide for Young Sailors of All Ages. I will go through the books with my daughter so she has a chance to learn a bit before we give teaching her a try. At the minimum she might learn port from starboard.

Please though, if anyone else has ideas or suggestions, post them. I seem to remember someone posting about having their sails made and that they turned out very nice?

I plan on making a mizzen staysail for my boat. This is a sail that is not entirely necessary but would be great to have in light air. The project will allow me the opportunity to make a sail but it is not crucial. I plan on using 4oz dacron in yellow if I can get it. I have dacron sails currently and like them. I have never used ripstop nylon. Those prices on the sunfish sails sound pretty reasonable.

Here is a good page to find polly tarps. They even have cammoflage tarps.
http://www.all-tarps.info/?gclid=CKKK95P...gQodHy2wRg
Brian.

I was checking for sails on the net and found that the MiniFish uses a lateen stile sail that is close to the size I need as does the Minicup and the Ply-flier. The differences are:

Stevenson's Triad design sail
Luff = 14' 8"
Foot = 10' 8"
Leech 12' 6"
Sail area is about 66 sq ft.

MiniFish lateen sail
Luff = 12'
Foot = 12'
Leech = 13.16'
Sail area is about 66 sq ft.

Minicup/Ply-flier
Luff = 15.83'
Foot = 10.5'
Leech 14.58'
Sail area is about 75 sq ft.

I have not built the gaff or boom yet so my question is would these sails work for the boat? Also any other ideas as to other 12 footish size boats with lateen sails?

Make a scale drawing of your sail, say 3/4" to the foot, which is a handy size. Then measure away from the tack, exactly 1/2 way along the foot. Do this again along the luff, marking both spots. With a straight edge draw a line from the peak of the sail through the mark on the foot and another line from the clew to the mark on the luff.

This "X" is the CE of the sail.

Do the same with the prospective sail you may purchase. Using a side profile of the boat (again a scale drawing) place both sails over top of each other so that the X's align over each other. Does the mast seem to fall pretty much in the same place? If so you can use the sail. If not, it's not a waste of time, but you might have to move the mast to insure both sails share the same CE location. Fortunately the lateen rig is pretty forgiving if the mast is moved around a little, but the CE has to be the same as the original or the boat will balance incorrectly.

. . .