Hi all,
I have a few short tears in my original Daysailer main sail. I used Dacron sail tape on both sides, and now need to zig-zag stitch over the edges. I plan to use a machine, so my concern is that the needle and thread will drag adhesive along with it and gum up the works. I've considered spraying the needle periodically with silicon lube to prevent that. Has anyone done this? Should I also stitch near the ends of the tears to "lock" the tear, or does the patch take all the strain off the tear?
Two repairs are on the foot, so I wrapped the tape from about 1.5" up on the sail, down and around the foot, back up the other side. I'm concerned that the adhesive will curl the tape off that part while threading the sail in the boom slot. I can stitch the sail part, but there is no good way to stitch where the foot rope is - probably even by hand with a curved needle. Any better ideas?
Thanks,
Scott
BTW, I'm pretty sure Dacron sail tape is just surgical tape, so if anyone finds themselves in an emergency, there's a possible hack.