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S.C.A.M.P. Sails The design of this sail can be found here These are the two sails I've almost finished. Ever since I saw striped polytarp, I've wanted to make a sail from it. I wish the stripes were wider - like 8" wide or so, but what are you gonna do?
The hardest thing about making sails is having enough space. The damn leech on these is 15' 9". Since it rains from Ocotber to April, I have to do my work inside - which the dogs see as their own private domain.
Schnauzers are loyal, dedicated, loving, and energetic. None of those things make them good helper dogs.
I am using reinforcement patches on these sails - layers of material to make the corners stronger. Each corner has 3 additional layers of fabric, and the hem is folded over 3 times. It is a real bear getting the stripes to match up - each patch is custom fitted. You can barely see the rope edge here - I run it around most of the perimeter of the sail to help keep the grommets from pulling out under stress. Polytarp is stretchy, so you have make sure the sail doesn't deform with use. You can also see my grommet patches - the white triangles. Again - just reinforcement to keep deformation to a minimum.
The sails have 3 reef points so I can reduce the sail size when the wind picks up. Netties are the strings that are used to gather up all the loose sail material when the sail is reefed. To keep the netties from ripping out the middle of the sail under stress, I sewed on these 'nettie patches' - and 8" square folded in half twice to make a patch 4 layers thick and 4" square. Sew the patch to the sail, then netties on each side of the sail and you are done (much easier said than accomplished.
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