What about cloth weight?
Cruising spinnaker cloths of the better quality are nowadays woven from high tenacity nylon. They are specifically designed for cruising or club racing applications, and are designed to balance range, durability, and value. These are better fabrics than equivalent polyester, especially when using a sock or a furler which apply extra strain on the material.
Nylon weight is usually expressed in ounce per sailmakers yard, usually 1.5 and 0.75 oz or 0.9oz per sailmakers yard. However, this weight is taken BEFORE the coating goes on, and this “weight” does not tell you the full story of your fabric. Some sailmakers may market the fabric they use as 0.75 oz, referring to the pre-treatment weight. But the actual weight (the post-treatment-weight) could be much more.
That’s why we prefer to use gr/m2 (gr per square meter) as specified by our fabric suppliers for spinnaker applications – this is a pretty straightforward measure that represents the actual weight of the cloth on your boat.
Broadly speaking, three main factors influence what cloth weight is used for a specific spinnaker: the spinnaker type, its area, and its intended purpose (ex: cruising versus racing).
- For our standardized spinnaker sizes, we follow the recommandations of our supplier, world class cloth manufacturer Contender, a Dutch company. See paragraph below
- For Custom spinnakers, we also use Challenge Sailcloth fabric, a US company.
- For racing spinnakers, we like to use Bainbridge fabric as well, a UK company.
Standard spinnakers cloth
Our standard cut spinnakers are designed for cruising, and we chose to use Contender Nylite and Maxilite to cover our range of standard-cut spinnakers:
- a 48gr/m2 Contender cloth called Nylite 90 for asymmetrical spinnaker size 00 (291 sq ft) to size 5 (689 sq ft), and for symmetrical spinnakers size 1 (484 sq ft) to size 9 (1248 sq ft). This cloth is a good ‘all around’ cloth for smaller / light air spinnakers.
- a 75gr/m2 Contender cloth called Maxilite 150 for asymmetrical spinnaker sizes 6 (807 sq ft) to 18 (2851 sq ft), and for symmetrical spinnaker sizes 10 (1399 sq ft) to 18 (3099 sq ft). This is a good choice for a broad range of larger spinnakers / heavier air use.
- Consult the brochure here
You might notice that for a given spinnaker size, the cloth weight can be different for an asymmetrical spinnaker versus a symmetrical spinnaker: for example, a size 6 symmetrical spinnakers still uses a 48gr cloth whereas a size 6 asymmetrical spinnaker moves to a 75gr cloth. The reason is quite simple: intended purpose. An asymmetrical mostly intended for reaching will pull on cloth much more than a symmetrical mostly intended for downwind, and requires a heavier cloth or you incur the risk of tearing the spinnaker.
Fully custom spinnaker cloth
As mentioned, the specific sail type, area, and its intended purpose will be key in choosing fabric options for your custom spinnaker. We often use Challenge NFS 44 and Dimension-Polyant (e.g. CZ30 for code 0) cloth.