The Handsewn Sprits'l

Demonstrates how I made a small Spritsail (around 40 sqft) out of natural materials.

I wanted a sail for my little scow
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Construct-a-Simple-Boat/
and while I do have a sewing machine I wanted to give it a try at hand sewing one. I've never made a sail before so I decided to go with a Spritsail because they're said to be the simplest to make and use.

After making this I'll deffinately use a machine whenever I've got one.

Some illustrations were borrowed from the book "The Sailmaker's Apprentice" whose illustrator was Christine Erikson.

Step 1 Materials

I gathered the necessairy instructions, dimensions, and other information from the book The Sailmakers Apprentice ($15-20 from amazon)

The materials for this project are:

Fabric - 4.25 to 6.1oz cotton with the tightest weave you can find ( I just used something called super muslin?) You could go with pre-treated cotton canvas from a marine supplier, but I don't of know any that do canvas.

Thread - I used a thick cotton thread, traditionally a reddish-brown was used for the seams and white (or roughly the same color as the fabric) was used for the patches. Also you could use synthetic thread (like polyester) on natural fabric, but you can't use natural thread on synthetic fabric.

Sailmakers needles - they usually come in a pack, just use the appropriate size for the thread you're using. Do not use the goofy shovel-shaped things you find in cheap packages of hand-sewing needles. Real sailmakers needles are very strong and have a triangular shape. I think I used a number 16 for all the seams and a number 9 for roping, I don't have any of them labeled.

Sailmakers palm (for really light work I use a little peice of leather around my middle finger)

Sailmakers hook - you can buy a real one, maybe they're better, but I just bent a large needle and threaded it with waxed twine then tied that to some cordage.

Rope - 25 ft of 1/4" manila and some cotton twine

Beeswax - I found some great stuff in Hobby Lobby, it comes in a one pound block.

some pins or nails to stick in the floor

enough floor space to lay out the whole sail, you could peice it together but for a beginner's project it's best to lay the whole thing out.

fabric pencil

scissors

batten - some thin material you can bend to trace off the foot curve, you could also use webbing.

straightedge - yardsticks work

carpenter's square - big metal square uaually around 18 inches on one side and 24 or so on the other. it helps when marking false seams.

To draw out your overall plan:

large peice of paper, 11x17 graph paper is usually easy to find

An architect's ruler, it's the funky 3-sided ruler with scales marked 16, 3, 1&1/2, 1, 1/2, 3/4, 3/8, 1/4, 1/8, 3/16, and 3/32.

compass, not the kind that points north.

Comments

[ComplacentBard]

Does it sail without a boom? I don't see one in the picture

[notjustsomeone]

Yes, and no it does not have a boom.

[Dream Dragon]

Interesting work, nice instructable and Kudos to you for even ATTEMPTING to do it by hand.

[mattwoodbury]

This is great. Have you read the Sailmaker's Apprentice?

[mattwoodbury]

Ha! nevermind. I need to read before I post. A great book, though.

[notjustsomeone]

ya, it's a great book, I was a little dissapointed it didn't talk more about natural-fiber materials though.

[mattwoodbury]

Yeah, I'm also interested in that, but it's hard to find the stuff they used to use. Have you read the Marlinspike Sailor or other books by Hervey Garrett Smith? I wanted to find the tarred marlin he's always talking about, but was never able to. I haven't done much with sailors' arts in a while, unfortunately. I have a great hunk of ebony to make into a fid that's been sitting around for years...

[notjustsomeone]

no, I haven't read any of Smith's books. I learned some ropework in Boyscouts when I was little, and the rest I picked up from various online sources. I really didn't get interested in ropework until I started climbing a few years ago. I think I read somewhere that one or two people started making real sail-quality canvas again, but they're in europe somewhere. as for the marline, I know www.sailrite.com sells some.

[maf23]

Sailrite is a good site. Jamestown Distributors has tarred marlin also. Good site to bookmark if you're involved in any kind of boatbuilding. Also the Woodenboat store has marlin & other odds & ends for boats.

[DainiusGB]

i sail optis and they have that exact same type of sprit sail, do you sail anything of the sort? the boat you made looks very similiar to a frosty with an opti sail, is your boat fast? ive made sailing rafts but ive never made a sail that cvomplicated b4, good job !

[notjustsomeone]

Actually I'd never neard of optis or a frosty until now. I don't really know if it's fast, I've only been able to sail it in extremely light winds so far, and the only other boat I sail is a 16' hobie, so there's not much comparison.

[racastro62]

Hi notjustsomeone, DaniusGB is talking about the Optimist Class, a.k.a. Opti. This an international well known categoy, including championships. I think they take part of Olimpics as well. The boats have the same shape as yours, and the mast / sail is the same. May be you took the general desing from a boat you saw previously. Because the similarities (almost identical) cannot be something that just happened. Best regards, Raúl

[tdem]

The sprit sail is a very old and widely used rig, that has been around a lot longer than the optimist class. It is hardly fair to claim all boats with a spritsail are 'opti clones'. Great instructible! Has given me some ideas to try out myself... I made a tiny sail for my canoe out of an animal food bag. Only about 1 square meter but works great on a little canoe. Nothing beats the look of days gone by though.

[DainiusGB]

well the sail can really be for any small boat i was just saying the boat itself looks like either an opti or a frosty.

[notjustsomeone]

Well castro, it was something that just happened. I'd never seen an opti before, not even online or on tv. I took a plan from the 1870's and a plan from the 1930's used what I wanted to, and that's how my hull came into existance. Then I decided to make a sail for it, which came from the book I mentioned in the instructable and there ya go, a world-class boat from a guy without an ocean - go figure.

[rowerwet]

I'm not sure where they are getting that your boat looks like the opti, the opti looks like a normal boat shape with a foot of so of the bow cut off so that the very bow is flat. However the sides taper in in a normal "boat" shape, your boat is a punt or scow shap, I have seen the plans you copied from many times on the net and they make a good little boat for simple boating.

[rowerwet]

your boat is much more like the PDRacer a simple sailing box that has it's own website and fanatics.

[Potroast]

Holy crap thats impressive! It makes me appreciate how much work goes into a traditional sail. I never realized how involved it was for something as simple as a sprit sail. Thanks for sharing.

[cantthinkof bettername]

Could you use an awning as a sail?

[notjustsomeone]

you could use your girlfriends underwear if you were desperate.

[DainiusGB]

i made an awesome sailing raft yesterday , i made it from 2 pontoons of foam a dagger board in the middle, a rudder made out of shingles, the sail was a box sail with a sprit and i made it out of a sheet someone was throwing out. The entire project was made from recycled goods. Ive only had time to sail it in white capping weather but its very hard to keep it going strait , i think the placement of the sail and the daggerboard are very VERY VERY important, where did you put your daggerboard?

[notjustsomeone]

You're right that daggerboard placement is very improtant to how the rig handles. Because my boat and your raft are flat-bottomed and have very shallow draft they tent to rotate around the daggerboard. You want to place it close to or right under your center of sail area, which for a big rectangle will be about dead center. If you go behind that point the forces on the daggerboard and rudder increase greatly and your boat tends to turn downwind. It is, however, ok to place the board slightly in front of the center of sail area, it actually decreases the pressure on your rudder slightly and the boat will tend to turn upwind, just don't stray too far from that point or the boat's just as hard to control. hope that helped.

[oceannavagator]

Very good job! I personally would have used dacron, simply because it doesn't soak up water and become heavy. I applaud anyone who attempts to explore the old ways of doing things and I am impressed by your rope-work.

[omnibot]

That is a beautiful handmade sail. It would be the pride of any boatowner, me thinks. Good work.

[gmoon]

Great 'ible! Thanks!

[Ferrite]

I like you improvised marlinespike, that's a good idea to make one form a wrench. I didn't know that they still sold sail makers needles, I have read about them but didn't know they were still made. Great Instructable!! (That looks like a good book from the pictures)