Mike Firth's blog Mylar Vs Dacron

>
> I recently visited my sail maker - as in McNamara - and
> discussed both Mylar and Dacron. He had equivalent rolls of material of each
> in stock and I can confirm that the Mylar 'felt' marginally lighter, As a
> raw material the Mylar costs the sail maker between 35% and 40% more than
> the equivalent amount of Dacron, I was given to understand that the labour
> and skills involved in manufacture were similar.
>
> I was advised that in comparable circumstances, as in dinghies and small
> keel boats, we should expect the Mylar to have approx half the life of
> Dacron. To be more specific Mylar is particularly sensitive to abrasion and
> flapping/flogging - they call it 'wragging' -. The growth of Mylar on the
> dinghy scene is associated with the growth of the new generation of bow
> sprit skiffs - euphemistically some times referred to as lollipop boats -
> where the latest materials are 'derigour' and the 'image'. The self taking
> jibs on these craft are heavily supported by reinforcement and battens,
> whilst the majority of mainsails are fully battened. Plus they are rigged on
> shore, where the carefully rolled mainsail can be fed up the mast, where it
> will be supported by the battens thus eliminating a degree of flapping.
>
> With the Flying 15, in the case of the foresail/genoa, the consequent
> overlap causing abrasion on the mast plus furling, means that Mylar is an
> unsuitable material. In the case of the mainsail, which is not fully
> battened and hence less supported, one also has to consider all that Mylar
> 'scrunched up' in the floor of the cockpit prior to hoist. This is where a
> substantial amount of attrition will occur, in addition that on the race
> course.
>
> Two significant other established dinghy classes have adopted a Mylar option
> for their Mainsails, the Fireball and The GP14. In the case of the Fireball,
> a class that was significantly under pressure from the skiff type craft, the
> members voted for the for the option because they believed it would update
> the image of the class. The average retail price hike between a Dacron and a
> Mylar mainsail on the Fireball is 22%.
>
> In the case of the GP14, the council made the decision to allow a Mylar
> option, there was no vote invited from the membership. The GP14 situation is
> quite similar to that of the Flying 15, where just a few sail makers seem to
> have developed a bit of a monopoly - cartel is perhaps too strong an
> interpretation - nevertheless some members of the GP fleet were bemused by
> the decision towards mylar. In the case of the GP14 the average retail price
> hike is just over 19%.
>
> So there we have it, Mylar costs more and sails made of this material will
> have a weight benefit, but unless correctly supported, will have a shorter
> life. Currently sailmakers are charging substantially less for a complete
> sail, than the increase in the cost of the raw material used. Is this
> because they are trying to establish a new market segment or do they expect
> to make twice as many sails long term?
>
> Non Dom
> 3559