Loft Report 12/9

This week we are working on a HydraNet roller furling jib topsail for a 55 foot aluminum cutter cruising in the South Pacific.  We will be sewing on the acrylic canvas tabling cover, a strip of cloth on the leech and foot that protects the sail from sun damage when its furled up, with PTFE thread.  We usually polyester, which in Maine lasts about 6-8 years, but in the tropics needs replacing every year or two.  The PTFE should last as long as the sail.  When were done we'll have to figure out how to get it to Pohnpei, Micronesia. 

We are having some difficulty finding a good dark black ink that will stick to silver Airx spinnaker fabric, so we can finish up our crying lion inlay. 

We just did some mylar patterns on our plotter of the rudder, centerboard and stem of a Fish-class day sailer for an MIT professor who is building one in his barn.  When he gets farther along, we'll do patterns for each of the stations.  If he gets that far, we'll build him some sails.

We are also building a jib for an Etchells and some Turnabout mainsails.  We should be starting on some International Class jibs, but the fleet is getting cold feet about building them from Maxx laminates.  It has been pretty entertaining, watching the e-mail discussion of this issue. 

Today, we sent Patience off in the van on her first trip down East.  She'll be visiting a few boatyards to pick up sails that need some work.  They are pretty much off the beaten track, so she will be exploring new places.  Should be a nice adventure, with the sun out and a bit of new snow around.