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Hi Keith, Most places will do it. The Grafham Chandlery, Steve Sawford, Northampton Sailboats, etc, etc. Have you tried the QMSC chandlery?
Alternatively you can sent it back to the makers, Hyde at Benfleet. The contact for repairs is Kevin Turner, phone 01268 756254.
Take the battens out and wrap it up well before sending it. Post adds about ?10 each way to the cost of the repair.
Cheers
Bob
Cheers
Bob
My advice is to get your sail repaired before the damage gets extensive. I didn't, and finished up buying a new main.
By the way, you should ALWAYS release batten tension completely after each day's sailing, so that the sailcloth has a chance to return to its original pre-stretch dimensions - it clearly won't return completely, but it will be much better than leaving the batten tension to distort the sail permanently, as well as possibly aggravating any small tears at the batten pocket ends.....
I later got my old main repaired, for use in less serious Club racing (or serious but blowing heavy!). As well as sewing up the torn batten pockets, it needed extra material round the bolt rope, and extra stitching for that extra material on the main area of the sail. Despite that fact that the sail cloth is well past its best (it's 10 years old, and seen force 7+ on a number of occasions), the repair work seems to have been effective (ask Gordon how well he thinks it went last Sunday!).
Because I was going to be in the area a few times, I got it repaired by Hydes (the original makers) at Benfleet in Essex. It cost about ?55 a couple of years ago. It seemed expensive at the time, but the extra few years life I now seem to be getting are proving relatively cheap!
I think it would be a really good idea if the "Suppliers page" of this excellent website could include a section on sail lofts known to members to have done good work for them on repairs, with examples of work done and costs.
At risk of aggravating Steve Sawford, another section on hull/gelcoat repairers would be very helpful.
