All,

I learned this today from a client who ordered HydraNet from Incidence Sails. BTW, his sails were delayed by Incidence Sails because of delivery issues from Dimension Polyant.

Comment from Incidence regarding Nautospere:

The test we did with Nautosphere showed us that this material was not as good as the Hydranet, more deformation because of the cross-cut, that is the reason why we don’t use this fabric. We know they have improved it a bit, we will have to redo some tests, but as this material did not reach our standards we prefer not to use it.

The above comment seems logical and is from a credible source. 

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Perfect.. thanks Mark!

Dennis,

Loads on a cross cut sail are very different than those on a radial cut.  The weave of the fabric needs to be matched to the loads.  Fabrics made for cross cut sails can not be well used for radial cut sails, and vise versa.

I would disagree that cross cut sails are intrinsically better for roller furling mainsails. You can make an argument that the cross cut construction is better when the sail is new, but all other things being equal, a radial sail WILL stretch less than a cross cut sail.  A stretched and baggy sail is miserable to roll up inside a mast and will cause all kinds of grief. For the typical cruiser who is looking to make sails last as long as possible, good radial cut sails will last longer in roller furling applications.

The primary downside of a radial sail is the cost of construction.  There are a LOT more seams that need to be pushed through a sewing machine and that costs money. Typically, a cross cut sail can be "triple stitched" with each seam sewn three times.  While it might be theoretically POSSIBLE to triple stitch a radial cut sail, I have never seen such a beast.  Since loadings in a radial cut sail are parallel to the seams this is not really a strength issue, but it means that any chafe on stitching needs to be attended to quickly since there are no back-up stitches nearby.  In a cross cut sail, much of the load is ACROSS the seams and the extra stitching is really not optional for full strength.

Battens cause endless arguments.  For standard hoisted sails, battens are a useful compromise.  Certainly more wear and maintenance, but better performance. I had them on my old boat, and would not change that.  On a roller furling main (or mizzen) I avoid battens.  The benefits (in my opinion) do not out-way the drawbacks. At least on a Super Maramu the mainsail is a minor player in driving the boat. Any improvement to the mains's performance would have to be REALLY dramatic to have much of an effect on the overall performance of the boat. 

Bill Kinney
SM160, Harmonie
Hollywood, FL

After trying MANY of the inexpensive toggle switches, in the marine environment and being always disappointed, the ONLY ones I will now buy are the mil-spec water-tight switches from Honeywell. These are far better (and more expensive) switches than the Amel OEM versions.  Many of these are robust and reliable enough they are rated for aircraft use.

They REALLY ARE expensive ($20-30 instead of $2) but I have NEVER had one fail, even after being sprayed with saltwater.  If it is just a case of the cost, you could buy 5 of the cheap China-made ones and change them out when they failed, and come out ahead in a few years.  But the first time you push the switch and NOTHING happens, you will wish you spent the extra money up front.

This is just one example, well matched to the bilge pump application: https://www.grainger.com/product/HONEYWELL-Toggle-Switch-24D429

When you are specifying switches for 24V DC be to check the DC rating of the switch. It might seem a bit counter intuitive, but 15 Amps at 220VAC is a much easier load to switch than 15 Amps at 24VDC.  Switches designed exclusively for AC service will fail early in DC service because DC loads will arc more and damage the contacts.

And if you need a new extension arm for the bilge pump toggle switch, the barrel of a ball point pen is about perfect.  Use a heat gun to soften the plastic, and mold it to the shape of the switch's arm.

Bill Kinney
SM160, Harmonie
Hollywood, FL

Here's a picture of one of the Bowthruster cables on my SM.   The jacket is marked 95mm^2:



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Mark McGovern
SM #440 Cara
Annapolis, MD USA

Woody,

They were 95mm^2 on my SM 2004 Hull #440.  That's roughly 3/0 AWG.  I replaced them with 4/0 when I switched over to LiFePO4 batteries

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Mark McGovern
SM #440 Cara
Annapolis, MD USA

Hello Bill,

May I ask a question that puzzles me :

Cross cut with no battens (or short battens) was said to be the best choice for trouble free in mast furling. To keep a good shape and that good in mast furling properties Hydranet seems to be the optimal choice.

For cross cut battenless sail is Hydranet as good than Hydranet Radial ?

Thanks for sharing all this useful knowledge.

Best regards.

Denis

Ralph, Wolfgang and Billy,
Ok I understand, thank you for your support.
Best regards,
Dean
SV Stella
A540154 

I got an update today.  I ordered Pro radial at the beginning of December 2021.  They apparently have the material and it will be ready to ship next week.  Fingers crossed!
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Jason Rutledge
SV Liahona
SM 335

Can confirm this experience on my 55. No password.

Billy

Hi All,
you need no User and Password. The Softwareupdate is storing all your stettings at the beginning and then restoring it after the update. I had nothing to manualy set after the update. All parameters as before. 

Here the procedure:

I think we've all had one of those bolts stuck like he had on the turbocharger :)

_._,_._,_

Great video, thanks for sharing

With best regards,

Mark

Skipper
Sailing Vessel - Cream Puff - SM2K - #275
Currently cruising - Tahiti, French Polynesia

We ordered a ProRadial / -Tri-radial cut with Qsails half september 2021 and after a 6 weeks delay it was delivered finally 19th November, 2021 
So some delay and some difficulty with the import tax but still not to bad in delivery time. 

We hoisted it just to check. All looks great but due winter time we did not sail with it yet.
Reading Bill Kinney's remark the perfromance seems great after 10000 miles, so that is promissing

Rgrds
Eric & Els
sv Abayomi 
Currently in The Netherlands