Just started making the sails for Kokachin, using Weathermax 80. We bought it (100 metres) directly from Contender UK, who gave us trade prices for this large quantity.

Yes it does seem to pucker when joining panels, but it also comes with a 5 year guarantee, so it should last.

Pete Hill & Linda Crew-Gee

posting from a school hall while stitching away. Hope to make the sails before Christmas.... 

I've now made sails in Dacron (normal sail cloth), Odyssey III, Top Gun, Mustang/Top Gun 9 and Weathermax80/60.

I don't enjoy working with Weathermax, it's a pain in the rear end, everything must be hot knifed and it's difficult to sew with out getting ripples. I can sew it okay now but I still don't like it.

My favourite is Mustang/Top Gun 9, it is not too expensive, easy to handle, sews nicely and is durable. I used it for LC and it's given 8 years of trouble free service so far. I'm also using in for the new sails that I'm making for LCB.

Odyssey III is okay if you live in low UV parts of the world. In NZ, it's life is about 3 years unless it is covered.

Dacron is okay but I do not see the need for it for junk sails. Straight Top Gun is only for sail north of 600 sq. ft.

Sailrite.com is unfortunately out of the question, or at least it's way down on the bottom of the list for the time being.

Shipping to Finland:

$113-177 depending on method

Shipping to Canaries:

$158-177 depending on method

(for 40 yards of Odyssey totalling $490)

That's some quite cheap dacron! Had not expected to have dacron on the list of potential fabrics. Will send an inquiry to the seller and report back. Thanks

Edit: Meh, this is what I got when trying to send a contact request:

"We couldn't find an answer. Unfortunately, this seller isn't able to respond to your question. We suggest reviewing the item again to see if your answer is in the seller's listing."

So can't even contact him, unfortunately. Maybe if I buy 1 sqm to a dummy UK address I'd get some contact information per email. :D

There are some old threads about this topic but since things change (materials, vendors) maybe it's time to get an up-to-date overview of what's available and where.

Personally I'm looking at something available (for shipping) in the EU but for the interest of others if there are some good materials available anywhere else in the world don't be shy to recommend them here. :)

Sailrite has Odyssey, Top Gun, Sunbrella (plus a lot of others), all of which have been recommended for JR in the past. I don't know about their shipping T&C to Europe though so if anyone has hands-on experience that would be useful.

Weathermax has been mentioned (80 and 65 if my memory serves me correct) but can apparently be difficult to sew. Where have you bought these?

Jami Jokinen was using something else which might interest me since I will be shipping either to Finland or to Gran Canaria (where I'm currently located). Don't remember cloth it was though other than that his sail is yellow. :P

Personally I'm looking to buy around 60 sqm, for a 34-37 sqm sail (with margin for error and experimentation). With Odyssey as an example for $12.50/yard at Sailrite it looks like I'd need about 40 yards for ~$500. Will email them about shipping costs.

More alternatives?