Dart 15 Forums

David Ball wrote:

I have recently purchased Sprint 15 1488.

The boat came with two sets of sails, an original multi-coloured set and another more recent plain white set of sails (Hyde).

The newer Hyde set are about 3 years old, but seller estimated they had been used less than 20 times. The condition of the sails is consistent with that level of use.

I have 2 problems though:
1) On first rigging the boat (but before tensioning the downhaul) I noticed that the luff rope has become detached from the tack of the sail, and retreated 20cm or so up inside the luff. There's no damage at the tack, so it appears to be a manufacturing fault.

2) One of the batten pockets has a hole just behind the plastic end cap - suggesting an under-tensioned batten jumped out of the cap and punched through the pocket - a fairly common type of damage.

The chap from my trusty local sail loft has expressed reservations about making either repair.

In the first instance, he needs to remove the tack-eye from the main to unstitch the luff and retrieve the luff rope. This is apparently difficult and involves a hack saw!!! He didn?t sound keen to do this.

For the batten pocket repair, he is concerned about the riveted batten end cap. In older sails these caps were screwed together. Again, he believes drilling or cutting these end caps off is difficult and doesn?t sound keen.

Has anyone experience of similar repairs?

Can anyone recommend a sail loft in the South East (preferably Essex) who has experience doing this type of repair on Hyde Dart sails?

Am I likely to get any joy from Hyde themselves? The luff rope problem looks like a manufacturing fault, but as the sails are several years old (though lightly used), I?m not the original purchaser and Hyde are no longer the supplier for Sprint 15 sails.

Thanks in advance.
David

Bob replied:

Hi David,
Hyde do still make our sails - but they now come from the Phillipines where the labour is cheap. In the past I have found that such repairs have been best dealt with by returning the sails to Hyde at Benfleet, Essex who will repair it properly. They are no more expensive than small sail makers but you do have to send off your sail. The Bolt rope issue may be a manufacturing fault, in which case they are the right people to judge it. There was a batch of sails particularly prone to this problem. I tried to call them recently but the telephone number I have no longer works. I suggest that you get the details from our supplier - Brian Phipps at Windsport (see this web site under suppliers).
The sails always fail first between the luff rope & the batten pocket end stops (which suggests that your sail has been used quite extensively). This sort of problem is quite easy to repair yourself with "teflon tape" strong polyester thread & a needle & pliers but the riveted end stops have made it much more difficult. Windsport do stock the rivets but I like the old Aquabatten screwed endstops much better for home repairs. Hyde have switched to the riveted end stops for all their fully battened sails - including the full RS range of boats. As you have the bolt rope issue Hyde can do all the work at the same time.

Bob replied:

Hyde's repair loft is now at Southampton. The contact is Gareth Hill and the phone number 01489 563420.
Cheers
Bob
PS on rereading your message I note that the batten pocket hole was not as I had assumed caused by excessive wear but by batten penetration.

David replied:

Thanks Bob. I'll try Hyde.

Yep - batten pocket hole is not luff wear but batten pentration.

I assumed (wrongly) that Hyde no longer made the sails. As they do they're more likely to be interested, which is good.

I noted from their website this morning they'd moved to Southampton. That's a shame for East Coast sailors like me.

AndrewHannah replied:

Hello David and Bob,

I can throw some light on this. Hyde Sails is (was) a local firm for me. It was founded by Keith Musto and Eddie Hyde and the sailmaking firm was formerley called "Musto and Hyde". Both partners belonged to Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.

A few years ago, the firm employed over twenty people. But as Bob correctly points out, production was shifted to the far east, and the Benfleet, Essex operation has now closed.

However, the good news is that the former staff are still in Essex. One of them is Colin Goodman who has now started his own sails business, and importantly for us, undertakes repairs. Colin is very knowledgable both as regards his work and his sailing abilities. He is a national champion in something and regularly races at Thorpe Bay.

Colin recently undertook an identical repair to my batten pocket. And he extensively overhauled a fellow Sprinter's trampoloine. He is not expensive. I understand Colin is in the Rayleigh area, and his trade name is Argo Sails. His contact details are 01268 546392 and 07759 462087.

Hope this helps,

Andrew Hannah, TBYC.

SteveR replied:

I've had both of these repairs done, 1) on Bob's advice I had my done at my local sailmakers it did involve cutting the eyelet out and after re-sewing the luff rope back in place replaced the eye. 2) The battern pocket ends, spoke to a very nice man at Hyde and he sent me a coupe in the post FOC including rivets. Sounds like your local sailmaker does not want the job !! Good luck

Duncan Ford replied:

David
Have just read the messages. I am at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club, with Sprint 1973 next to Andrew Hannah's. His suggestion of Colin Goodman is a good one. My 3 year old boat also had the luff rope part from the sail very soon after I had it. I had it repaired at Hydes for nothing when they were still local at Benfleet and they had apparently used a new "strong" material round the eye hole, which had failed. I suspect that the cut of a batch of sails was slightly wrong however, as mine failed again.

Hydes then went to Southasmpton, and Colin Goodman, who worked for them, set up his own sail loft. His new repair to mine is still looking good and I think he charged me ?30 or so. Very much suggest you call him and am sure he will do a good job on both your repairs.

Also, he is in Essex close to Rayleigh.

Tel no is on Andrew Hannah's message.

Good luck.

Duncan Ford