Coastal Cruising

All of the major suppliers produce sail fabric in polyester often referred to as the trade name ‘Dacron’ directly aimed at the weekend and everyday cruising sailor. All of the following styles are fill orientated and for most applications are only really suitable for cross cut construction.

In our opinion the best of these styles and the material we use most of is Dimension-Polyant C-Breeze which is a very consistent and flat weave utilising high tenacity yarn in fairly balanced constructions and is suitable for most general purpose cruising applications. From experience we believe C-Breeze is probably the highest quality entry level woven Dacron on the market but others are worth considering too

Bainbridge Ocean is a high tenacity fabric and is cheaper low end entry sail cloth suitable for day sailing but the weave quality does not match many of their rivals material so longer term shape retention is poor.

Bainbridge Ocean Premium Plus and Challenge High Modulus also has high tenacity yarn but does not have as tight a weave construction so is usually not quite as good as the C-Breeze for shape retention but can be a bit softer and easier on the hand. These styles are however available in either high or low aspect versions and are therefore worth consideration in applications of budget sails required for particularly high or low aspect sails.

Click here for more information on High Modulus and Ocean Premium Plus.

Challenge High Mass is a fairly new material and is often used for far East imported sails. It is often cheap and therefore attractive. It has very large warp yarns meaning little of the yarn is exposed to UV light. Therefore this is a long lasting and strong fabric with excellent resistance to UV light and abrasion but these large yarns mean the crimp in the weave mean that the shape retention is poor compared to other materials.

Click here for more information on High Mass.

If you would like a quote, please click here for our QUOTE REQUEST FORM, or ring us at the loft to speak to us in person. For more information, click on the links below to find out more about specific sails: