Plastic Classic Forum

I would like to teach myself some splicing, sail repair, etc. What is a goood instructional book/manual and what tools do folks recommend?

Cheers,
Clint

Hi Clint,


You hear the name Brion Toss being referenced from time to time on this forum and he is the author of "The Complete Rigger's Apprentice". Certainly a book that any sailor should have in his library and the one I would advise to anyone with an interest in splicing and rigging.

On to sail repair...

First, adhesive sail repair cloth available at places like "West Marine" works really well on small repairs while you are out cruising. Outside of that, and as a part time sailmaker myself, I would suggest developing a close friendship with a local sailmaker and pay him or her to do the work. Anything outside of minor punctures and tears requires large flat wooden floors and picks to properly tension the fabric to be repaired, re-cut, etc. It also helps to have an industrial zig-zag sewing maching that can throw a 5/16'th zig-zag stitch through 50 oz. of sail cloth or more. I worked weekends learning the craft at a smal local sail loft and now I offer to run the shop on Saturday mornings if I need to do any repairs on my own sails.

Another tried and true method is to tap any sail repair three times with your checkbook while uttering the magic words "How much should I make this out for?" Works every time :-)


Good Luck,

George Jones

I concur with George; Brion Toss' book is excellent. I also would recommend his video for learning to splice double braid. I believe we are both located in the Portland, ME area and I am happy to loan my copy of the video to you if you like (assuming I can locate it). As far as tools go, for most splices, a simple, inexpensive fid should be fine. As for splicing double braid, I would recommend Brian Toss' "Splicing Wand." It is expensive but effective. It is high on my list of tools to acquire.

I also have Brion Toss' excellent book and highly recommend it.

On splicing, before tackling double braid, you might want to cut your teeth on three strand which is _much_ easier.

TX for thoughts....I will try the laid rope first before going with the braid action!

George, I want to learn sailmaking but am not sure how to approach a local sailmaker (I know a couple by name and have a few good contacts via friends) to do some part time apprenticing next summer. I willl be a student of boatbuilding and design the next couple years and want to get sails and rigging under my belt.

I need to stitch some webbing to make "reefing ears" in my mainsail. I am not sure how to do the stitch...the pattern, etc....will Toss's book also help me here? Anyone have a straightfwd procedure they can offer?

TX in advance.

Cheers,
Clint

My favorite double braid splicing instructions are in "The Marlinspike Sailor" by Hervey Garrett Smith. These are very similar to Samson Rope's instructions at
http://www.samsonrope.com/home/recmarin ... /index.cfm
which also include tips for splicing used double braid.

Clint,

Are you replacing old reefing ears or installing new from scratch?
If new, then sewing on the webstraps will be the easy part. First you need to add some cloth reinforcement patches.

Just as The Complete Rigger's Apprentice is the book to have for rigging and splicing, The Sailmaker's Apprentice is the book for learning about sail and canvas work.

Splicing laid rope is more fun, but if (like most sailors), 90% of the lines on your boat are double-braid, you'll have little use for it and the skill will soon be forgotten. Might as well just learn to do doublebraid work from the start.