Sport Today

by **inspiredinsani..** » Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:57:32

How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
damage anything?

by **wind.s** » Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:11:03

Quote:

>How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
>damage anything?

I'm no expert on this, but at the very least you are going to put a
permanent curve in the mast if left tensioned for too long. If it were
me, I would ease the out and downhauls. A few years back, I stayed at
a campground for three months and left my sail rigged with the lines
eased, stuck in the woods, and every afternoon after work I dug it out
of the woods and went for the afternoon sail. No problems encountered.

by **Pete** » Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:00:27

Quote:

> How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
> damage anything?

One week of permanent rigged state has left one of my aluminum
extensions bent. It's a bit longer than average (42cm) RDM extension, so
YMMV

Bend in the mast is another possible problem, but at least you can
rotate the mast to 'unbend' it... you cant rotate the extension

Peter

by **youngwater** » Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:06:05

Quote:

> How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
> damage anything?

I've had my current wave sails rigged and fully tensioned for two
years. I de-rigged two sails recently (just got some new ones to
abuse) and had to whack on the base a bit to free up the adjustable
collar. The mast was slightly bent, but not half as much originally
anticipated. The sail material (X-Ply) and Dacron luff sleeve is in
really great shape. I was rather impressed. They've still got years
left in them at this rate.

Keeping the gear in the shade is key. My friends who do similar
things (with less shady storage) seem to get two years out of their
sails before they start to fall apart.

For me, I'd say that nothing has been badly damaged by keeping them
rigged. The gear still sails as well as the day it was new - and life
is good. Yes, the base collar would not have seized if I'd de-rigged
and rinsed on a daily basis - but that being said, the Streamlined
base is so strong, that after freeing up the collar, one quick wipe
down and the metal was looking to be in great shape.

I'm going to break down my other three rigs and change out all of the
lines. I just noticed some minor rope chafing adjacent to the cleats,
so it's about that time.

Note: I don't know if I'd do this to a large race sail. There's only
so much punishment you can put carbon, metal, cloth and plastic
through ;-)

by **wind.s** » Sat, 30 Jun 2007 22:44:48

Wow, I would probably have bet money that a sail would self-destruct
if left fully tensioned for two years; this is great!

I'm glad you mentioned that shade is key. Since the OP didn't say
where they are, I'll hypothesize that if you left a race sail rigged
on the beach somewhere like Corpus Christi in the summertime, I'd give
the mast a couple of hours and the sail a couple of weeks. Of course,
I may be wrong again. ;)

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:06:05 -0700, youngwatery

Quote:

>> How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
>> damage anything?

>I've had my current wave sails rigged and fully tensioned for two
>years. I de-rigged two sails recently (just got some new ones to
>abuse) and had to whack on the base a bit to free up the adjustable
>collar. The mast was slightly bent, but not half as much originally
>anticipated. The sail material (X-Ply) and Dacron luff sleeve is in
>really great shape. I was rather impressed. They've still got years
>left in them at this rate.

>Keeping the gear in the shade is key. My friends who do similar
>things (with less shady storage) seem to get two years out of their
>sails before they start to fall apart.

>For me, I'd say that nothing has been badly damaged by keeping them
>rigged. The gear still sails as well as the day it was new - and life
>is good. Yes, the base collar would not have seized if I'd de-rigged
>and rinsed on a daily basis - but that being said, the Streamlined
>base is so strong, that after freeing up the collar, one quick wipe
>down and the metal was looking to be in great shape.

>I'm going to break down my other three rigs and change out all of the
>lines. I just noticed some minor rope chafing adjacent to the cleats,
>so it's about that time.

>Note: I don't know if I'd do this to a large race sail. There's only
>so much punishment you can put carbon, metal, cloth and plastic
>through ;-)

by **Richar** » Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:39:53

I left 6.5 and 5.8 Ezzy SE sails on skinny masts rigg'd for three weeks at
Bird Island. Used them during the day and stored them under a tarp when not
in use, day and night. The sails do not show any abnormal wear but the
masts have a slight bend to them. Of course the rental shops leave their
sails rig'd all season. They would be a good source of information.

--
Richard
Huntington Beach, CA

Quote:

> Wow, I would probably have bet money that a sail would self-destruct
> if left fully tensioned for two years; this is great!

> I'm glad you mentioned that shade is key. Since the OP didn't say
> where they are, I'll hypothesize that if you left a race sail rigged
> on the beach somewhere like Corpus Christi in the summertime, I'd give
> the mast a couple of hours and the sail a couple of weeks. Of course,
> I may be wrong again. ;)

> On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:06:05 -0700, youngwatery

> >> How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
> >> damage anything?

> >I've had my current wave sails rigged and fully tensioned for two
> >years. I de-rigged two sails recently (just got some new ones to
> >abuse) and had to whack on the base a bit to free up the adjustable
> >collar. The mast was slightly bent, but not half as much originally
> >anticipated. The sail material (X-Ply) and Dacron luff sleeve is in
> >really great shape. I was rather impressed. They've still got years
> >left in them at this rate.

> >Keeping the gear in the shade is key. My friends who do similar
> >things (with less shady storage) seem to get two years out of their
> >sails before they start to fall apart.

> >For me, I'd say that nothing has been badly damaged by keeping them
> >rigged. The gear still sails as well as the day it was new - and life
> >is good. Yes, the base collar would not have seized if I'd de-rigged
> >and rinsed on a daily basis - but that being said, the Streamlined
> >base is so strong, that after freeing up the collar, one quick wipe
> >down and the metal was looking to be in great shape.

> >I'm going to break down my other three rigs and change out all of the
> >lines. I just noticed some minor rope chafing adjacent to the cleats,
> >so it's about that time.

> >Note: I don't know if I'd do this to a large race sail. There's only
> >so much punishment you can put carbon, metal, cloth and plastic
> >through ;-)

by **wind.s** » Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:52:06

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:39:53 -0700, "Richard"

Quote:

>I left 6.5 and 5.8 Ezzy SE sails on skinny masts rigg'd for three weeks at
>Bird Island. Used them during the day and stored them under a tarp when not
>in use, day and night. The sails do not show any abnormal wear but the
>masts have a slight bend to them. Of course the rental shops leave their
>sails rig'd all season. They would be a good source of information.

I'm familiar with how Worldwinds used to store sails in the days
before they rebuilt and you're right, they stayed rigged all the time.
They were also pretty adamant about getting them out of the sun when
not in use.

Yep, gotta have a tarp. I looked all over before I found a silver one.

by **gazze** » Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:31:47

Quote:

> How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
> damage anything?

I've had my infinity 7.5 rigged for about a year. I store it clew
facing directly up in a small shady wood right on the beach. It gets
some ants in the mast occasionally but seems exactly the same as when
I bought it.
I leave it fully down and outhauled too.
The way I look at it is that I go out much more often even if the
weather is marginal. If it's not so windy further out I just put it
away again.
You buy the gear to use. If it encourages you to go out more leave it
rigged, even if the life is shortened a bit.

g

by **Florian Feuse** » Sun, 01 Jul 2007 10:28:05

My gear takes the biggest abuse from rigging, not sailing. I guess I
don't catapult all that much anymore, and the build quality and
structural strength of my wave sails (KA!) is more than adequate for any
of the rinse cycles I've encountered in recent years.

My Q to you is, if you would suggest that it's not actually better for a
sail to stay rigged. Perhaps Dave E. would be interested, too, and check
your sail for elongation, stretch and creep at the seams against the
original templates...

--
florian - NY22

http://www.kasail.com/windsurfing/team/florianfeuser.html

by **wind.s** » Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:04:43

Quote:

>> How long can I leave a monofilm sail rigged? Will long term rigging
>> damage anything?

>I've had my infinity 7.5 rigged for about a year. I store it clew
>facing directly up in a small shady wood right on the beach. It gets
>some ants in the mast occasionally but seems exactly the same as when
>I bought it.
>I leave it fully down and outhauled too.
>The way I look at it is that I go out much more often even if the
>weather is marginal. If it's not so windy further out I just put it
>away again.
>You buy the gear to use. If it encourages you to go out more leave it
>rigged, even if the life is shortened a bit.

>g

Amen to that!

by **Crabb** » Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:36:17

Last year I left my sails rigged all season (late March to early
October)*** in a shipping container. I left the outhaul in
place, but I backed off on the downhaul after (nearly) every session.
I thought this was a good compromise because the downhaul can be
adjusted very quickly, and it most affects the tension in both the
mast and sail. When I derigged in October I found no bend whatsoever
in my masts (fat Powerexes.) I don't think the little bit of tension,
constantly applied to the sails, can be worse for them than the
folding and creasing caused by rigging and derigging. Besides, it's
just so damn easy!

by **youngwater** » Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:37:20

Quote:

> I left the outhaul in place, but I backed off on the downhaul...

Funny you should mention that detail! I was chatting with Barry
Spanier recently about this subject and he mentioned that if I were to
back off the downhaul to ease the tension on the rig (which, per my
previous post, I don't do), that I should also back off the outhaul
too. He suggested that the outhaul be released first - and then let
off the downhaul till the mast straightens.

So there you have it - straight from the mouth of a manufacturer...

by **Crabb** » Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:25:13

Quote:

> Funny you should mention that detail! I was chatting with Barry Spanier...

Gee, I didn't realize this was a name-dropping contest, but you win!
My guess is that most designer/manufacturers would give the same
answer. I am only willing to invest minimal time and effort in trying
to prevent "bent mast syndrome" or sail fatigue And I certainly am
not going to release the downhaul until the mast is completely
straight, leaving the sail all bunched up, when what I am doing now is
working so well for me. I appreciate reading other sailors'
experiences and, occasionally, sharing my own. Isn't that what this
forum is all about?

by **wind.s** » Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:31:47

On Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:37:20 -0700, youngwatery

Quote:

>Funny you should mention that detail! I was chatting with Barry
>Spanier recently about this subject and he mentioned that if I were to
>back off the downhaul to ease the tension on the rig (which, per my
>previous post, I don't do), that I should also back off the outhaul
>too. He suggested that the outhaul be released first - and then let
>off the downhaul till the mast straightens.

>So there you have it - straight from the mouth of a manufacturer...

I was chatting with Bill Gates and he agrees. :)

by **Glenn Woodel** » Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:45:49

Quote:

>On Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:37:20 -0700, youngwatery

>>Funny you should mention that detail! I was chatting with Barry
>>Spanier recently about this subject and he mentioned that if I were to
>>back off the downhaul to ease the tension on the rig (which, per my
>>previous post, I don't do), that I should also back off the outhaul
>>too. He suggested that the outhaul be released first - and then let
>>off the downhaul till the mast straightens.

>>So there you have it - straight from the mouth of a manufacturer...

>I was chatting with Bill Gates and he agrees. :)

Don't even get me started on the cam or no cam debate I had with Elvis
the other day.

Glenn

Sport Today

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.

Leaving a rig....rigged.