Sail Material help needed

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

Hi All

I'm currently trying to finish an RG65 (ALPHA) designed by John Goodyear, right now i'm trying to finish the sails. I ordered from ebay some ICAREX RipStop Nylon which was marked as 40D. When i compared the material with other sails that i have on my other models ( Aeronaut Bella and Dumas Star45) I noticed that the material that i ordered looks more lighter.

If someone have an idea of this material I'm referring to the grid pattern of the material itself, each grid box of the material of the aeronaut bella sails measure at 10mm by 10mm. the material that i ordered are much smaller.

I didn't like how the sails came as they seem way too thin, does anybody knows which one i'm supposed to order? the 40d or 20d for example.

Regards

Daniel

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Danial. What exactly is wrong with the thin material?? I would have though the thinner the better, assuming it is still strong enough?? Ashley

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

it's difficult to explain but compared to my mylar sail of my dragon force rg65 and the ripstop nylon used on the Dumas Star 45, the top part of the main sail doesn't hold up straight, the tip falls over. I must take pictures and post them here as soon as get home, it's difficult for me to find the correct words in english to explain what I mean.

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

A headboard is needed to support the top of the sail. A panel that acts like a sort of a flattened out gaff. The mylar sails are fairly self supporting. Otherwise, as long as the material can do the job, the lighter the better.

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Daniel,

You should try using Mylar draughting film it has a much smoother and crisp feel, I have a set on my DF65 and the Dragon Flite comes with them as standard

Regards Ray

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

Posted by Ray Wood 2 on 24/09/2018 21:45:17:

Hi Daniel,

You should try using Mylar draughting film it has a much smoother and crisp feel, I have a set on my DF65 and the Dragon Flite comes with them as standard

Regards Ray

Hi ray, that's what i'm trying to do in these past 5 days.I ordered a 10m Roll trough Ebay which the seller supposedly was able to ship to Malta. then 2 days later after i made my order he told me that he had a problem to send the parcel. How hard is to send a simple roll of drafting film! Now I tried a different seller which is ''supposedly'' to be from UK, after 2 days i asked him if he send the item and his respond was sorry

Please excuse our limited knowledge of the English language

Original message in French language:



Hello,



Thank you for your email.



What is your order number, please?



Once again we sincerely apologise for an inconvenience caused

OHH Come ON!!!

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

To give an idea of what i meant

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Daniel,

Your sails need some battens to hold the sail to shape , acetate strips glued on should help,. Many sailing dinghys have fully battened sails

I would try Mike Weston. at RC Yachts of Swanley he has everything for df65 & df95 and Mylar

Regards Ray

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

Posted by Ray Wood 2 on 25/09/2018 20:29:43:

Hi Daniel,

Your sails need some battens to hold the sail to shape , acetate strips glued on should help,. Many sailing dinghys have fully battened sails

I would try Mike Weston. at RC Yachts of Swanley he has everything for df65 & df95 and Mylar

Regards Ray

Hi Ray

any suggestions of where, how many and what length I should aim for?

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Looking at the pictures, there is nothing at the top of the sail to stop the extended luff from drooping down, That is the job of the headboard, a piece of stiffening that holds the back edge of the sail out and extends a way down the front edge to keep the horizontal edge horizontal.

To guess the number and size of batten needed, look at the DF95 pictures – three and they go about half way across the sail. Perhaps I've been unlucky with my choice of adhesive, but that kind of batten usually lasts about three sessions and ends up in the lake. I hold mine in place by covering them in a duct tape pocket. The tape sticks to ripstop very well, the mylar sails don't need any battens. With the relatively light DF sails, just the tape will probably do the job.

[Daniel Cardona 1Participant @danielcardona1]

Posted by Malcolm Frary on 26/09/2018 11:43:53:

Looking at the pictures, there is nothing at the top of the sail to stop the extended luff from drooping down, That is the job of the headboard, a piece of stiffening that holds the back edge of the sail out and extends a way down the front edge to keep the horizontal edge horizontal.

To guess the number and size of batten needed, look at the DF95 pictures – three and they go about half way across the sail. Perhaps I've been unlucky with my choice of adhesive, but that kind of batten usually lasts about three sessions and ends up in the lake. I hold mine in place by covering them in a duct tape pocket. The tape sticks to ripstop very well, the mylar sails don't need any battens. With the relatively light DF sails, just the tape will probably do the job.

Hi Malcolm

So with mylar or drating film all i need is tape? Will Gorilla tape be enough? that is what i tried first on the ripstop, it looks that attaches well on it so maybe it will work fine on mylar too. if not I might use deck patch material.

now looking at the sails of my DF65 Which i replaced with sochs sails i see that there is a batten at the top, should i then try to do something similar? I figure out what material is that tough.

And in this last photo, does anybody knows what kind of tape is this? looks like ripstop but self adhesive. it's attached on the Jib.

[sammykParticipant @sammyk]

Hi it looks like repair tape for full size sails,I have used it on model sails and it works very well.it has all so been used on a model hovercraft skirt hope this helps.regards sammyk

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Whatever is used, and if racing to class rules, there might be rules on the subject, anything stuck to the sails needs a strong bond. The trailing edge of a sail gets a lot of twisting and thrashing about action, which is a very common way of unfastening a glued join. Sail repair tape is fine if it is available, duct (duck?) tape can be cut to size and shape.

If a layer or two of tape does not do the job, whatever is used needs to be light, thin, rigid, straight and strong enough. Not the easiest combination, but I have found that sanded down stirrer sticks or barbecue skewers or toothpicks (depending on the size wanted) work.

That batten at the top is doing a large part of the jjob of the headboard – it prevents the unsupported cloth from flopping down.,

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