PROJECTS - 1999
J/120 Spinnaker - This Birmingham boat is getting ready for the upcoming season, especially the Gulfport to Pensacola Race. The design criteria was to design a maximum sized running sail for light to medium air. These big asymmetrical boats can't go dead downwind until it really stars to blow, but this big, light and full sail will allow the boat to sail amazingly low angles.
Holder 20 - This is a really neat 15 year old design. At twenty feet long she has a lifting keel and weighs in at a sparse 1100 pounds. This easily trailerable pre-sport boat has everything but a bowsprit. We are re-powering the boat with a square weave polyester main w/ full length top batten and loose foot, a Pentex laminate 155% genoa and a wild colored 3/4 ounce spinnaker.
Pearson Vanguard- this Mobile Bay couple love their old Pearsons. Their last three boats were a Pearson Ensign, a Pearson Electra and a Pearson Triton. Their new boat is being renovated and our part of that project is a full Batten mainsail and a 110% working jib, both out of Challenge 6.62 ounce High Aspect Dacron
Soverel 33 and Tripp 33 - These two PHRF screamers are both getting powered up for summer with all purpose 155% genoas made from the new KEVLAR EDGE laminates from Dimension Sailcloth. These are both state of the art sails with full triradial panel layouts and powerful shapes.
Ranger 29 & Irwin 28 - these are not glamorous boats but they are still winning races in the genoa fleet. Both of these owners have opted to Dacron crosscut 155% genoa to comply with their cruising class rules. The sail are made from Challenge HIGH ASPECT 4.6 ounce Dacron.
J/160 - the owner of this 52' racer cruiser wants speed and durability. We are presently working on a spectra triradial mainsail with full battens mounted on an Antal mast track. We are also working on a furling #3 and a #4 also, out of Dimension "SX" spectra laminate.Tripp 33 - the owner just purchased the boat and hopes to debut at GORC next month. We already made a Kevlar Edge light #1, for the boat now we are working on a bullet proof #4 jib and a 3/4 ounce spinnaker out of Porcher's Performance Coat Nylon.
MX Ray - this is a one man boat with a bowsprit, and an asymmetrical spinnaker. Our customer was too big for the MX Ray so he took the concept and made himself one a little larger, wider and more buoyant, but weighs less. And of course it has a bit more sail area. The main was made from Dimension 180x in wild colors and the spinnaker is Contender 3/4 ounce. The sails were shipped this week and we expect some great input from this innovative skipper.
San Juan 24 - here is a boat that was very popular in the 70's but we did not hear much about them recently. We just shipped a complete suit to Nashville, and now we're working on a second mainsail going to Tampa Bay. The mains were made from Dimension 240s square weave polyester.We are also completing 6 suits of Flying Scot sails for their mid-winters which start next week in Panama City, a suit of J/22's,an O'day 222 main for Atlanta, Compac 19-2 Main for a local customer and a Catalina 30 II 155% Furler for Mobile Bay.
Silicone coated spinnaker fabric- we have long known that if we could make spinnakers more slippery, they would go up quicker, gybe smoother (asymmetrical) and get the boat around the course faster. Contender Sailcloth (Holland) developed the fabric. It took some trial and error but we have found a way to glue them together without sewing. We are working on our third one for The Smyth Team, this time a F31 trimaran.
J/Boats This week we are doing two very similar mainsails: a J/30 and a J/92 both are being made from Dimension Square Weave polyester. They have tapered battens with the top one full length and a loose foot. One is staying here in Florida and the other is going to the Chicago area, but both customers want speed, durability and reasonable cost. It is surprising how close these sail are in size.Beach Boats The Grand Hotel in Fairhope Alabama is adding to their rental fleet. We have made a total of three Hobie Waves and four Sunfish in bright colors with their logo on each. These floating bill boards will last for many seasons.
Caribe 41 This is a real Bluewater cruiser. We are replacing the furling mainsail using Challenge 8.62 ounce Dacron, with a Sunbrella cover and vertical battens. With a furling main you lose some light air performance, but you get a big payback in ease of use and safety. This is a good example of the fact that modern roller furling works very well.Ranger 32 Old boats can learn new tricks; they just need new equipment. This one is getting a loose footed main out of Dimension 300F polyester and a wide range 155 out of Dimension polyester laminates. We are expecting some good results from this New Orleans crew.
We are also working on an Erickson 25+ genoa, and Passport 47 genoa, both going to Atlanta as well as a Roberts 43 mizzen and the usual batch of repairs, furling conversions and recuts.