Sanders - How We Make Your Folkboat Sails
3. Cutting
The selected roll of cloth is positioned on
the table ready for cutting and retained
there by a vacuum created by a large
suction pump. The cutting process starts
by firstly marking on all the seams, batten
pockets, windows and panel numbers
before the laser cuts and seals the cloth.
From start to finish this process takes
about 15 minutes. The panels are then
removed from the table and ‘stacked’
ready for assembly.
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Figure 3. Our £125,000 Blackman and
White Dual Gantry Cutting Table. You can
see the laser beam at work in this photo.
4. Sail Assembly
Double sided tape is applied to the seams
that were drawn onto the sail by the
cutting process and the panels are then
glued together; the ends of each seam
are stapled to avoid ‘creep’ and the sail
is left flat on the floor ready for stitching.
When it is time the sail is rolled up and
each seam is stitched under a long arm
sewing machine with rollers in front and
behind to ensure that the stitch is even
and consistent.
5. Spreading
When the panels have been sewn
together the sail is laid on the floor and
the measurements taken to ensure that
the sail conforms to the class rules. The
luff is never touched; this is always ‘left
as designed’ and only the leech is faired
if necessary. We always fit a shelf foot on
the bottom of the mainsail therefore this
will normally require a small amount of
‘straightening’.
Stuart can be seen here checking the
final details before spreading the sail.
