Buying a new sail

[Troonsometimes]

I have found the details of Forth Marine Textiles in Dunfermline on the interweb and wondered is anyone has nay experience of their work?
I need a new mainsail and sail cover.

[Troonsometimes]

Or does anyone have any other reccomendations?

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

Or does anyone have any other reccomendations?

I am in the process of having a new suit of sails and stack pack made by Ivan Bole at Arun sails, he has made the sails for my last three boats, always excellent, only let down by Parcelfarce delivery on two occasions.

For spray-hood dodgers carpets etc I can recommend Cover Craft at Kip Marina.

[Nick]

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Hi TS,

I looked them up on Google and discovered that Yell have got their sticky hands on the company's web presence. Yell are the only company I know who can create a website that absolutely no-one can find via any search engine and where the owner doesn't even know the web address. (Yes, this actually happened to me once). Anyway, I have written to them offering to create a site for them or to at least give them a free listing if/when Yell do create a site for them.

In the meantime, if anyone else does have any information please post it here. There is a severe shortage of Scottish sailmakers, and while I have found Saturn Sails at Largs very helpful I have only used them for repairs and refurbishments (new bolt rope for rf genny) and have bought our new sails from doon Sooth (one from Jeckells and one from the now defunct Southern Sails).

Both the sails were excellent and look good as new after our 6000 mile East Atlantic circuit. One thing I am convinced of is that the extra investment we made in Marblehead dacron (which added 15% to the price at the time) was well worth it. Marblehead is a much denser weave with less resin in it, so the sails are nicer to handle from the off and will keep their shape longer - cheaper sails tend to go shapeless in a few years once most of the resin has been knocked out of them.

Right, that's enough rambling about sails - must go and get my ankle x-rayed.

[cpedw]

There's also Owen Sials at Tralee Bay and they have an outpost at Port Edgar. I haven't had a sail from them but they made a nice sprayhood and some cushions for us.

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Right, that's enough rambling about sails - must go and get my ankle x-rayed.

Nick,
what have you been up to?

Derek

[Nick]

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Owen are a bit expensive but good for racing sails. You need to get them to come to your boat and measure it up - a couple of people I know who have had cruising sails made after giving Owen the measurements have found that they don't fit and have to be remade. (Having said that Owen have been very good about it and maybe these people were just crap measurers!)

I have jiggered my ankle leaping from a stile, which has put the kybosh on my entry in the John Swannie World's Thinnest Dwarf competition.

[Pete Cooper]

Owen Sails have been known to make mistakes on racing sails as well. I know one guy who bought sails from them - main and genoa and they were total mince. The main was about 2 foot too short on luff and foot, and the gennie had no shape.
Saturn have a good rep but I have only used them for repairs. I think that they are becoming more competitive pricewise as well. The owner of the boat I race on has just had a rough quote from them which seemed very cheap.

[Nick]

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That's very interesting Pete . . .

I didn't want to slag Owen off too much in case the experiences I had come across were atypical, but the people I was referring to had similar mistakes - errors of more than a foot in either luff or foot length.

Did the guy you mention get a good response from Owen Sails when he complained?

Good to see you posting here btw . . .

[Pete Cooper]

I believe that total satisfaction was denied him. They did put an extra panel on the foot of the main, but whilst it worked it was not an ideal solution. The genoa remained as flat as a flat thing flattened by a steam roller and then trampled by a herd of elephants.

Allegedly!

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

I had a quote from Owen on sails for my last boat, the quote and watching one of their chaps remove a genoa from another boat to measure and then not put it back properly convinced me that although I had received good service on a new spray-hood and stack pack, they would not be my first choice for sails.

The spray-hood and stack-pack were excellent however, I believe the chap responsible for those is now at covercraft.

I called into Saturn at Largs about 18 months ago and asked them for quote, they said they would visit the boat and come back to me. I am still waiting.

[stevepick]

I got owen to do our interior upholstery last season - the craftmansship was excellent. I then got 2 quotes for new cruising sails at the end of last season. The Owen quote seemed competetive ( very similar to a clyde based sailmaker) so I went with Owen . The sails are a perfect fit, and ( in my limited experience) have a great shape. They have really geed up my boat. No complaints, and again the quality of the work done on the sails seems very high.

Steve

[DaveS]

I've used Owen at Queensferry three times for repairs and have been pretty satisfied each time. I got a new main a couple of years ago from Tralee and it did had a few problems - almost all of which were fixed cheerfully and free during the winter. The only remaining problem (2nd top batten of a 2 X full + 2 X standard batten arrangement) will IMHO only be resolved by replacing the standard sail slide slug by some sort of car device that can take compression loads.

[sahona]

Original question - -F.M.T. yes. Our old boat had a sprayhood from them , so I contacted them for an extension cockpit cover, as the existing work looked good and solid. The new cover was equally solid, but unfortunately had the zip sewn on wrongly. One side had to be "ended" by me later. I'm not sure if Michael noticed and flanneled or just missed it. marks out of 10 overall - 7.
PS later, (7 yrs) the thread succumbed to UV in the Med - a common occurance. Ask the question....

[Gordonmc]

I used Forth Marine Textiles to have a sprayhood made on the recommendation of a friend.
I have no problem with the price or quality of the work, but the method of working leaves something to be desired. They came through to Troon from Edinburgh, took the old sprayhood away after some measuring and delivered the finished article without me ever seeing the man. I asked for a zip to be put on the trailing edge of the sprayhood to atttach a cockpit cover and being pleased with the sprayhood asked for a quote for the cover. I never heard anything more and subsequently bought a sewing machine and did the job myself.
My mate who gave the original recommendation has had subsequent work carries out including a full length cockpit canopy. In summary they are competitive, the work is good but tying them down to appointments is a bit of a trial.
I have had both Saturn and Jess Sails in Ardrossan quote for other work simply because they are local.

[Troonsometimes]

Because of the 'handiness' of dealing with Jessails in Ardrossan I decided to order the new sail from them as I hadn't had a reply from Forth and I am extremely impatient.
I have now had an e-mail with a 'ballpark' figure from Forth MT for the sail of some £200 plus VAT less than the Jessails price.
Too late but I will consider them for other things as time wears on.