David Tyler wrote:

Annie Hill wrote:Oh!  it looks like I did it the sailmaker's way (actually, in my case, probably the dressmaker's way!), but I never fed more than one panel of the sail through the throat of the machine, so didn't find it an issue.

I lapped the seams (not like a dressmaker) so that I didn't have to turn the sail over.  Once they were sewn, I went back and attached the batten pockets.

Yes, that's right, you did it like a genuine sailmaker. It wasn't so bad, because your sail is half the size of mine. Also, the shelf foot method decreases the size of each panel that has to be fed through. 

 When you build a sail using the "shelf foot" method, you do not join the panels in the same manner that you would if you use Arne's "barrel method" or "broad seaming" and "tuck" methods. This is because each "shelf" is a lens shaped piece of cloth (that's why they'er called "lenses" in shelf foot terminology) that give shape to each panel and also joins the two panels together (the topmost and bottom most lenses are half lenses) so you do not get a panel to panel seam where the batten lies and so Arne's method for putting the batten pockets on does not apply.

However you still can sew the pockets onto the lens before you sew the lenses on to the panel and that's my standard practice. Because of the way it's done however, you'd still use either the sail makers method or Annie's dress maker method. If Annie did the job afterwards, I must have forgotten to tell her.

Unfortunately, unless you are making a sail that is made up of separate panels that are tied together when you rig (as I did for Carl Bosteck's Aphrodite) you will ultimately have to be pushing the whole sail through the sewing machine. The trick is to do as much detailing as possible before you join the sail together.

You could quite probably use Arne's panel joining method to join the lenses to the panel but because there is no batten pocket to cover the seam, it'd look rather untidy.

Gary Pick wrote:The Odyssey III I used was wide enough to cut my lower panels from without having to sew strips together. What is the advantage of using broadseam in a JR sail?
Just curious.
Gary

If you've got cloth wide enough to cut the panel out of a single piece - then putting in tucks is the way to go.

Arne,

Annie Hill wrote:Oh!  it looks like I did it the sailmaker's way (actually, in my case, probably the dressmaker's way!), but I never fed more than one panel of the sail through the throat of the machine, so didn't find it an issue.

I lapped the seams (not like a dressmaker) so that I didn't have to turn the sail over.  Once they were sewn, I went back and attached the batten pockets.

Yes, that's right, you did it like a genuine sailmaker. It wasn't so bad, because your sail is half the size of mine. Also, the shelf foot method decreases the size of each panel that has to be fed through. 

                                                            Stavanger, Friday

David

It surprises (and gladdens) me to read that you will try one of my methods for joining the batten panels. I bet you will find that you save a lot of work. The amateur method b should work even when using broadseams, which I guess you will use. Nowadays I too wonder if the barrel cut method should be combined with using broadseams, at least if I aim for camber in the 12 – 15% range.

I agree that amateur method a is not the best, but at least it worked on Malena’s experimental sail, made in 1994. Little did I know that this sail would stay operational without a stitch being mended for 16 years. It took years after I made it before I finally started to understand how little stress there was in the junk sails in general, and in the cambered panel junk sails in particular. When Malena’s sail finally fell apart (see photo article from the JRA rally in Stavanger 2010), the seams were still OK, but the nylon cloth had had enough after being left uncovered 24/7 for all those years.

The amateur methods have two assets over conventional sailmaker methods, apart from being easy to do:

• The batten panel joining seam is much better protected from shafe from the lazyjacks and mast lift than when using the professional methods (that goes for both amateur method a and b).
• When amateur method b is used, the batten pockets will cover most of the batten panel joining seams so this critical seam will see very little sunlight. The gaps between the sections of batten pockets can of course be covered with small strips of canvas for the same reason.

So, although technically weaker, these methods may result in long-lasting sails.

I see now that the 3 – 4 lower battens of Fantail’s sail are nearly parallel (much unlike the Colvin sails). In a way you have got the best out of the Hasler-McLeod sail while retaining the good-looking fan shape. Smart!

Good luck!

Arne

PS: If some of you wonder what on earth I am babbling about, then check " The Cambered Panel Junk Rig, Chapter 5" found on "my" page.

http://www.junkrigassociation.org/arne