Sail for M

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leigh.ross
leigh.ross's picture
Regarding the foot. 

Regarding the foot.

When I asked the same question on a different forum I was rather rudely accused of having lived under a rock for twenty years. The final analysis is that loose footed will give you better control over the sail shape , if you were in the habit of adjusting foot tension while sailing. I’m not sure how many Macs are set up to do that.

Leigh Ross

Crieff

0777 558-4561

1990 MacGregor 26S Ptarmigan 

1992 MacGregor 26S Pelican 

roly.simpson
Hi Leigh

Hi Leigh

Did you have to pay import tax to bring the goods in to UK?

leigh.ross
leigh.ross's picture
Hi Roly ,

Hi Roly ,

Im not the best one to ask that. As a pilot ( and resident in the USA ) I have almost unlimited baggage allowance so I just have stuff delivered to my US address and I bring it to our Scotland house as baggage. Whether or not this is exactly what the HM Customs wants me to do is beyond my ken.

Im pretty sure that if you had a sail mailed to you you’d be paying some form of tax. We ordered an inflatable dinghy from China through AliExpress and a week or two after it arrived we got a letter with an invoice for some form of tax which we paid. I don’t remember the % though.

The only number I can give is the $150 quote for shipping sails to the UK that Precision gave me. It was $75 for an address in the USA. The full length battens were rolled so they weren’t an issue. Be careful unwrapping them though. They tend to spring out.

Leigh Ross

Crieff

0777 558-4561

1990 MacGregor 26S Ptarmigan 

1992 MacGregor 26S Pelican 

rick.jones
rick.jones's picture
Interestingly, the Mac 19s

Interestingly, the Mac 19s were all shipped with loose-footed mains, and pre-dated the X. It's possible this may have been to make for quicker rigging and de-rigging, as the 19 is very much a dual-purpose sailer and cruiser. There is dedicated storage space in the cabin for the boom (and mast), but not with the sail attached.

I've rigged a 4:1 outhaul, but I haven't noticed much difference in the ability to control sail shape, although that said I tend to just tighten the outhaul before raising the main, and release it after lowering to reduce long-term strain.

I must try tweaking it bit more next season!

Rick Jones (Treasurer), former 26X & 19 owner, Isle of Wight

john.pompei
john.pompei's picture
Hi Roly & Leigh

Hi Roly & Leigh

There will be duty to pay on any goods imported from outside the EU then VAT will then be charged on the value.

Im not sure of the duty rate on sails but I will look it up next week, duty is charged at whatever the rate is in the suppliers price plus the freight, then VAT on the lot !!

Customs use an exchange rate published each month to make the conversion from the purchase currency into GBP

Leigh you are very lucky to have a route which avoids these costs !!

Once I know the duty rate for sails I will let you know, by the way the rate is also “country of origin” dependant - Trump’s latest anti China won’t help those in the US trying to buy sails from China but might help the US sail lofts who are still making them there !!

John

ASHANTI 2008M

leigh.ross
leigh.ross's picture
Precision is Canada based so

Precision is Canada based so that should avoid Forest Trumps involvement.

Leigh Ross

Crieff

0777 558-4561

1990 MacGregor 26S Ptarmigan 

1992 MacGregor 26S Pelican 

mike.clarke
Just my passing comment  -

Just my passing comment - but why do you think foreign made sails are better than British? There are number of excellent smaller sail lofts in the UK that can and do make much better sails than cheaper imports and you avoid the carriage and import duty. Import duty tends to be higher on luxury goods and anything that is for yachting tends to be classed as a luxury. You also can get slight alterations if you need them when you first fit them as well as see the quality of the cloth before you buy. In my experience having bought a couple of sets in the past they are much more involved and want to make sure they work well - something that can't be done from abroad.

A cheap imported sail will look great until its been used a few times but will not last - the Doyle sails supplied with the macs are a case in point as they are not particularly well made and use an over filled fabric which does not retain their shape for more than a season or two. The UK sails we had made are far superior in quality of workmanship as well as cut and no more expensive like for like. Its great to look up and see a well set sail fully filled and pulling properly across the whole width and height something that never happened with the original sails.

I find the sail shape can be flatted a little by pulling down hard on the kicker strap and setting the out-haul and halyard tight. When reefed the sail is much flatter and so works well - this is down to the good cut as much as anything else. When sailing downwind or in lighter airs we don't set the out- haul too tight and leave a little give in the halyard and slacken the kicker right off to allow the boom to rise which allows the lower third of the sail to fill a little more. I'm always pleasantly surprised at how well the Mac sails compared to other yachts of a similar size as we regularly sail faster and point higher than others although we do loose out to longer keeled yachts due to leeway when hard on the wind.

Mike C - Taka 26M

david.claassen
david.claassen's picture
Mike,

Mike,

I think it is simply that most of us don't have a good relationship with local sail lofts. When I needed a jib, I knew from my experiences with the US Macgregor group that Judy B. knew her business, so that is who I used. And, because I also do have a US address, save money on personal shipments from the States.

When it is time to replace the main, I would love to find a good UK-based shop to use, as I really do like supporting local tradesmen.

Well spoken!

David

David Claassen

"Logan's Run"

2006 26M

simon.armitage
....and don't forget the

....and don't forget the 'traveller' will flatten the sail or loosen it as required so it is just a question of weather conditions and combined use of the traveller, halyard, kicker strap, and out hall. Loosen everything in light airs (as Mike Clarke says) and tighten everything up in a blow.

Simon Armitage

Sowenna 26 M

john.pompei
john.pompei's picture
I promised to let you all

I promised to let you all know about the costs of importing a mainsail from Precision Sails in Canada.

As I mentioned before, they only carry out the design and specification in Canada, the sails are made in a loft in Shenzhen China. For orders outside Canada they ship directly from China and the shipping costs for an M main would be about 15% based on an ex-loft price of £680.

To calculate the final landed price if we say the ex-loft cost is 100 plus 15% shipping =115 then duty of 12% would be charged = 128.8 then VAT at 20% = 154.56

Therefore it is necessary to add about 55% to the ex-loft price to get the sail delivered in the UK.

Of course anyone in the fortunate position like Leigh or David will find the sails a bargain, however it has made me re-think and I am currently reviewing the quotes from UK sail lofts where hopefully any problems could be easily fixed.

John

ASHANTI 2008M

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