Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Mylar Racing Sail

This is a R&D project to evaluate new adhesives and permanent bonding tapes from our vendors for use in Point of Purchase Display Projects.  One of our model makers was a sailmaker who was trained in the black art by a 3rd Generation Sailmaking Guru at a time when high tech products were being introduced into sailmaking.  These products included mylar, Kevlar, Spectra and Carbon.

This sail is a jib for a Rhodes 19 one design class.  It is produced from 5mil mylar film, which is polyester or better known as Dacron which is extruded vs being made into thread and weaved like most Dacron sails.  By extruding the Dacron into a film the molecules are aligned for strength in all directions reducing stretch.  The downside is if a hole forms in the material it will rip all the way to an edge very quickly.  This is a problem that plagued mylar sails since the late 1970s.

So far 3 sails have been made to test various adhesives and high strength tapes and have used the knowledge gained in the assembly of custom display projects. 

What makes a sail project great for testing materials and adhesives?  The materials and adhesives have to survive a very harsh environment.  Salt Water, UV light, and the constant loading and unloading of stress loads along with multiple spikes in the stress loads make a local Walmart Store's environment seem like a Walk In The Park!  See Us At POP2GO