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Medway Maniac View Drop Down
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Posts: 2788 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Medway Maniac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Snagging Tell-Tales
    Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 12:39pm
Just got a new set of sails with the proprietary red and blue tell-tales pre-applied, luckily in large numbers since at least half the time the yarns are snagged up on the (Mylar) sail seams and thus useless.

I've long been an advocate of putting silicone oil on tell-tales to stop them sticking when wet, but I don't see that helping here.  The only idea that comes to mind is electrical tape over the seams, but it's a bit bodgy/temporary for a new sail!

Anyone got any more elegant solutions?
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JimC View Drop Down
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Posts: 6662 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 1:40pm
Clear mylar sail repair tape that would be far better than electrical tape...
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LASERNUT View Drop Down
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Posts: 65 		Post Options Post Options   Quote LASERNUT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 3:42pm
Coat the tail tell and area round the sail with candle wax
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iGRF View Drop Down
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Posts: 6499 		Post Options Post Options   Quote iGRF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 5:24pm
Originally posted by Medway Maniac

]Anyone got any more elegant solutions?


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andymck View Drop Down
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Posts: 397 		Post Options Post Options   Quote andymck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 8:55pm
Change them for audio tape of you have any still in the loft.
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Medway Maniac View Drop Down
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Posts: 2788 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Medway Maniac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 10:05pm
Thanks for the replies.

I considered cassette tape, but was reluctant to remove £10-worth of brand new posh tell-tales!

The Mylar tape idea, Jim, sounds like a winner;  can't imagine why I didn't come up with that one except I've never had any (apart from cheap stuff from B&Q that discolours and falls off almost instantly...)

Not sure how seriously to treat the candle-wax suggestion - sounds like a good way of melting a hole in the sail - but if it could be done, remain flexible and not just flake off it could help.  Maybe Nikwaxing the area would be a good idea, but more along the silicone oil lines, rather than stopping mechanical snagging - or how about using silicone sealant smoothed along the seams?
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maxibuddah View Drop Down
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Posts: 1760 		Post Options Post Options   Quote maxibuddah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 15 at 6:48am
Just rub the candle on the area cold,you don't need to melt it
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JimC View Drop Down
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Posts: 6662 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 15 at 6:55am
If the problem is mechanical snagging as described I'm not sure how much the candle wax will help outside the very short term.

Moral: keep the tell tales away from the seams, although that's easier said than done with some panel layouts.
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Medway Maniac View Drop Down
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Posts: 2788 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Medway Maniac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 15 at 10:10am
One contributor to the problem was that, as usual, the tell-tales were far longer than optimal for flow detection, and thus able to reach more seams than necessary.

I guess that's a consequence of the proprietary items needing to cover all boats from Oppies to Dragons and larger, but I always cut them down by about 1/3 with benefit.

But this jib is indeed pretty complex in its panel layout.

Off-topic, but has anyone else noticed that leach tell-tales (tell-tails?) applied to one side of the sail behave quite differently on one tack to the other? On one sail I had it could lead to huge undersheeting on one tack (before they'd fly) if you weren't careful.
Wilsonian SC
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