Sail Making

   Hi

Looking to do some sail making / repairing  

Does anyone know of any courses or where to start?

I have space and can use a sewing machine  

Do I need an industrial machine? 
Will I need a Zig-zag machine or will a straight stitch machine do?

Any help greatly appreciated 

Regards
Graham

Author	Message Share Topic Printable Version Delicious Digg Facebook Furl Google MySpace Newsvine reddit StumbleUpon Translate Twitter Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic
Happilyover40 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Groupie Joined: 04 Jun 10 Location: Scotland Online Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Happilyover40 Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Sail Making Posted: 22 Jul 13 at 4:17pm
	Hi Looking to do some sail making / repairing Does anyone know of any courses or where to start? I have space and can use a sewing machine Do I need an industrial machine? Will I need a Zig-zag machine or will a straight stitch machine do? Any help greatly appreciated Regards Graham

RS400atC Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 04 Dec 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3011	Post Options Post Reply Quote RS400atC Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 22 Jul 13 at 4:37pm
	There are a couple of useful books, also some stuff on the web. Howard Williams is the classic book. People have done good stuff with an ordinary machine, but the materials are expensive, so cutting corners on the machine may not be good. As I see it, the problem is it is hard to do a quality job, so you are better off buying secondhand if possible. Repairs and mods are possible on a cheap machine. zigzag helps a lot. Google 'tyvek sails' though for an alternative approach.

jeffers Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 29 Mar 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3048	Post Options Post Reply Quote jeffers Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 22 Jul 13 at 4:40pm
	There are some good online sail pattern programs too. A google search should reveal those as well.
	Paul ---------------------- D-Zero GBR 74

Daniel Holman Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 17 Nov 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 997	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Holman Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 22 Jul 13 at 6:30pm
	Opt out of life for a bit and work as a minimum wage apprentice for one of the few sailmakers that still builds sails rather than act as an umbrella franchise for a company making stuff in sri lankan sweatshops. It'll be cheaper net than a mid life crisis.

yellowwelly Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003	Post Options Post Reply Quote yellowwelly Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 22 Jul 13 at 6:49pm
	Or alternatively set up your own 'loft', and market cheap knock off spinnakers for the Smod sailors out there...

Rupert Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 11 Aug 04 Location: Whitefriars sc Online Status: Offline Posts: 8956	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rupert Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Jul 13 at 8:54am
	Ed over on the CVRDA website has done a sail making course - might be worth popping over to cvrda.org and asking about it.
	Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686

Happilyover40 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Groupie Joined: 04 Jun 10 Location: Scotland Online Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Happilyover40 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Jul 13 at 9:56am
	Good idea but unfortunately finances and family don't make this possible. Especially as my name is a decade out of date

laser193713 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 13 May 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 889	Post Options Post Reply Quote laser193713 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Jul 13 at 12:10pm
	Having a machine that will do 3 step stitching is pretty important.

Roger Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 23 Mar 04 Location: Somerset Online Status: Offline Posts: 524	Post Options Post Reply Quote Roger Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Jul 13 at 9:02pm
	Only sail making course I have ever seen is at Lyme Regis.... http://www.boatbuildingacademy.com/courses_a/shortcourses/sailmaking.htm You won't become an expert in a week but I'm sure there is lots to be learnt and it seems like a good place to start. Plenty of good working second hand machines around, zig zag and 3 step zig zag, look in the usual places and just doing a Google search will find a few. As has already been said there are free sail design programs about which will then convert the design to panels, again google is your friend.

Happilyover40 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Groupie Joined: 04 Jun 10 Location: Scotland Online Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Happilyover40 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 24 Jul 13 at 2:00pm
	Thanks for that. Will look into it and let you know