Anonymous wrote:

I don't know how much Sailrite would know about junk sails (which don't take the stresses that conventional sails are subjected to). Anyway, I used an old light weight spinnaker and made a 15 sq m junk sail from it - it has proved adequate in strength.

From experience, Sailrite won’t touch Junk Rig sails.

I use .75oz ripstop spinnaker cloth for small dinghy sails (< 50 Sq.Ft) and 1.5oz ripstop spinnaker cloth for bigger sails. If you reinforce them properly, the sail will be more than strong enough.

Not sure if the material you're looking at will hold up. I pulled up a sail kit at random from the Sailrite site and they're using 4 oz dacron for a 44 sq-ft sail:

https://www.sailrite.com/Eastport-Pram-Lug-Tanbark-Main-Sail-Kit

You may need an account there, but they offer expert advice on custom sails; it's what they built their business on. Their search box doesn't return anything relevant for 'junk sail'.

Greetings experienced junk enthusiasts!

 I am planning a junk rig conversion for my 16’ plywood sailing skiff. It is currently lateen rigged and I am looking for something reefable and with more manageable spars. The current rig is 76 square feet (7 sq m) and I am thinking of taking advantage of the junk rig’s easy reefing to go up slightly to 8.5 or 9 square meters. I am planning on cambered panels on the Johanna platform with webbing boltropes and ash battens to the PJR scantlings.

But I have no clue what fabric to choose, so I am seeking the voice of experience here. Many junk sails that I read about in the magazine are for cruising boats and are much, much larger in area and are made with 8-10 Oz marine fabric like Odyssey III or Top Gun. But that seems like overkill for a sail of this size. On a day sailer and camp cruiser, if there is a gale you stay on shore and if a panel rips you head back home, and most of the time everything is stored in the garage.

I would like to have a light sail bundle to handle on a car topped boat. On the lightest end are nylon spinnaker fabrics under 1 Oz, e.g. https://www.sailmakerssupply.com/product/75-ounce-nylon-spinnaker-cloth/sailcloth  which seems like it might be pushing the envelope the other way, plus it is fairly expensive.

Outside of the marine world are huge varieties of nylon and polyester coated fabrics from the outdoor world, e.g. https://ripstopbytheroll.com/products/1-6-oz-hyperd-1  in weights from 1-2 Oz.

If you were making a small sail that needs to be lightweight, how light would you be willing to go on fabrics?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can offer,

-Neil