Independant Sail makers

No, I know there are lots of them, the same as there are lots of sailing clubs and regions, which is why it would be good to pull them altogether into a commercial list which I'm surprised hasn't been done before. It must have at some time in the past.

Originally posted by jaydub There are far fewer than there used to be, e.g there is no dinghy loft with an hour and a half of Manchester.

Grant Piggot he tends to specialize in Cat sails but depending upon your cunning plan he may be suitable.
gpsails.com
Warsash.
Also a lot bigger but seem to be wanting to get back into one design stuff are Hydes

Originally posted by iGRF I'd like to find a list of all the small Independant sail lofts there are in the UK, not sure if there is a resource where that might be found, if so happy to research that. But in the meanwhile, those I can call to mind immediately My local Gibson Sails who specialise in Miracles and more recently have been dabbling with GP's Morgan Sails I'm aware of Rooster must have a loft or do they sub out?. Did Speedsails continue? I notice an ad for Lennon sails that has popped up recently. I'm looking for lofts capable of also doing the whole fit out, supply masts as well, got a project cooking which may or may not see the light of day, so any help with names of lofts and regions they service would be much appreciated.

There are lots of small sailmakers about, many mostly repair yacht sails or make small numbers of one-offs.
You want a mast supplier who also does sails?
Speed(?), Pinbax,  maybe time to look at mastmakers' lists of retailers and spot the sailmaker?

If you want anything technical, I'd suggest looking at the closest type of boat and seeing who has development experience that might be applicable. E.g. if I wanted something skiffy, I'd look at Cherubs and Int14's see who makes one-offs for them. If it was a family boat, I'd look around the slower classes. If it was something bigger, I'd look around the small keelboats.
If you don't need top performance or any development work done (say you were making training boats), there are a lot of cover makers and such like who can do the job perfectly competently, they'd just never sell racing sails as they don't have the jockeys or the reputation.
Some sailmakers have found there's more cash and less aggro stitching fabrics for other things, like architectural.

most independent sailmakers (or franchise holders e,g. Ullmans or the North lofts)  will take on commissions and offer repairs etc.

Edited by turnturtle - 12 Feb 16 at 3:13pm