Based on the the previous practice with edge tapes, I decided to go ahead and mock up an entire corner because the reinforcing patches will add even more layers besides the edging and I'd like to know just how far my sewing machine will take me. Plus, if there's some hand sewing to do and I need to try that out.
Each corner will have three layers of reinforcement. Both Emiliano Marino and Todd Bradshaw advise 1" of patch per foot of the sail's edge. Of course, my plans are in metric so I'm going to just interpret the guidance as 10%. These patches are not scaled to size, they are just scraps.
Mariano also describes a tradition of colored thread for seams and white thread for reinforcements. He mentions this as a tradition with cotton construction, but I'm going to apply it to my tradi-modern GIS too. Clearly, I can still use as much practice sewing as possible.
Unlike the previous tape practice, these are the actual tapes to be used. The luff and the leech will be a tad heavier at 5oz. The difference may be negligible, but the sewing machine might notice. The foot and head will match the body's 4oz. weight.
So far so good. No surprises here.
Now I'm, finding the limits of what my machine will handle. The stitch on the left of the luff was with a thicker needle and the machine began to struggle at the third patch. At the foot edging it balked. I switched to a thinner needle for the stitch on the right and it got along farther. Not happily, but it punched through all ten layers.
Now it's time to fit the hardware. Spur grommets for the minor lashings, a brass ring for each of the corners.
The spur grommet is easy-peasy. I used the small hole punch to nibble away the large hole for the ring.
The needle is no joke! It's a three-sided shaft ready to do some damage. Not shown is the sewing palm needed to ram this thing through ten layers of Dacron. Cool stuff.
It's not easy to fully conceal the brass. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to. If so, I think I will follow Mariano's example of staggering the placement of alternating stitches so that they form more of a starburst pattern rather than a neat circle.
The other side. Somehow I marked this side with pencil, but began stitching the ring onto the other side. I can't even blame it on beer...
I started to get a little out of whack so I backed up one stitch. I'd like to avoid this in the future.
So it became clear to me that my cut out needs to be neater. I thought the tension would smooth everything out, but I also struggled to keep the ring centered over the hole. More on that in a moment.
The back shows some of the tucking of ends, one of which formed an unintended knot. I think I have a better feel for the length of twine required to do the whole ring with a single piece.
Dang it! The hole was not large enough for the brass liner to pass through. This could possibly by stretched with a fid, a cone-shaped tool that would be wedged and pounded in the hole. Not gonna happen for this practice session. Plus, I think the real remedy is to make the hole larger. That would also alleviate the issue of pulling the ring out of place every time I pulled the twine taut. So, for the real thing I will use the liner as my guide for marking the inner hole and will be sure to make it nice and smooth.
Not bad for a Sunday morning.
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