I ordered a genoa from Mack Sails a week ago so I do not expect it for another 3-5 weeks. I checked with several other sail makers. Mack sails were not the absolute lowest price, but close to it. The reason I picked them was about two years ago my Yacht Club ordered four complete sets of sails from them. They delivered them when they said they would and the sails preform well on the Club's four small boat fleet. The sails take a beating thirty times a year during our Club races because many of the skippers luff the boat at the start line for a minute or so like so many other small boaters and they have not come apart yet. They race between 3 to 5 races each time so at three times for 30 races over two years that comes to about 180 race starts.

I cruse my boat now and only race twice a year and do not expect to win anything so I want a sail that will hold up well. If I raced my boat competitively I may have selected a mylar tri radial like I had at one time. Mylar sails do not hold up well as a roller furling jib.

Over the many years of sailing and buying new sails I have found many sailmakers will give a Boat Show price this time of the year. Also someone on this site is a retired employee of Mack Sails and can get you a good price. I forgot about him when I ordered my sail.

Greg,
I also vote for Mack Sails. Our former Commodore, Chic Lasser, is the one you want to contact. They know Catalinas and build a good product. As Mike said, they are not super hi-tech, and they are not the cheapest sail around, but are very reasonable priced and well built. I bought a new main for my C400 last year and I am very happy with it. It was far less than I was quoted by local lofts. Hope this helps.

I ordered a main sail through the Catalina Direct offer.... It should arrive in January. They are Ullman and I believe with shipping it was under 2K.... full battens and 2 reef points with C36 logo and numbers I will report on them when they arrive and I put them on the boat.... looking forward to retiring my old sail.

Tony

Tony, your boat name is Terra Nova #22. Have there been 21 Terra Nova's before this?

Duane,

22 is my hull number ;) And my sail number to stay relevant to the thread ;) I've updated my signature to disambiguate the number.

Tony

Do Mack or other lofts make the main sail set up for the Dutchman system or is that something that must be added by a local sail maker?

I am curious as to how many use a local sail loft? If you ordered online, how well did the sail fit?

Had a friend that put new sails on their boat by a local loft and was impressed with the quality of the work. There were some small tweaks that needed to be done to get that perfect fit.

Makes me nervous of ordering online but it sounds like many are happy. Curious, did you have to make adjustments to your sail to get it "perfect"?

I used a local (sort of) loft that is a dealer for Hyde Sails. I say sort of because the loft is in Collingwood which is roughly a 3 hour drive from our boat. Despite that, the loft owner, Ken Forsythe came to the boat and measured to optimize the sail for our boat. They had the sail made in the Philippines and shipped directly to us. It took only 3 days from the time they shipped it until UPS delivered it. The sail fit perfectly. Very happy with the sail and the service and I would buy from that loft again without hesitation. I'm not a fan of off-shoring, but the quotes we got from lofts for sails built over here were obscene by comparison, almost double. At least some of the profit stayed here.

Bud,

I am curious. Assuming you have a Dutchman system on your sail, did the sail come with fish line and reserve line pockets installed? Also did you decide to go with a loose footed sail?

Richard, we got a new genny. Our main is an original one from Catalina Sails, it does have dutchman system. This is the 4th genny that I know of that this boat has had, yet the main is original. Seems oddly disproportional for some reason. I can see genny having more wear, but 4X as much?

Thanks Bud, now I don't feel so bad about having my original main. But I'm on the original genny too, I believe made by North. It's due for an upgrade, but not in the budget with 2 kids in college :mad:

Bud,

I got a new genny two years ago, and it was a huge improvement. I too still have the original main and should get a new one but it still is useable. I guess with realistically a five to six month season, it has held together longer. I keep looking at new ones, but have not acted yet. I am trying to find out if the lofts can make them with the Dutchman ready to go or do you have to have a local loft add the pieces.

Richard

Our main is still in really good shape, our sailmaker had a look at it and said it needed nothing. I can't see why a loft couldn't put the dutchman equipment in They'd probably just need to know where you want the lines, how many grommet holes, etc. The dutchman system is a real PITA when you put the sail on in spring, but I like it way better than the alternatives.