Boltropes definitely shrink over the years. Possibly more so when little used, but in any case, given what you wrote about the age of your mainsail, that is probably where your extra inches come from when the main is up and you tighten your downhaul. If you try and measure it just laid out on the floor, you are getting the measurement of the shrunken boltrope length, unless you stretch it somehow. If it's shrunk enough, when laid on the floor you can see the slack or wrinkles or pockets along the boltrope in the lufof of the sail. Many little ones all along, usually, that add up to a handful of inches or more in total. I have a bit of this on my M17 mainsail. I have more of it (but in miniature scale) on the old sail for my El Toro dingy (which may be a decade or more older than your main). I have the sail topped out in the boltrope slot and when I take up on the downhaul I get three inches or more of stretching the boltrope before the luff of the sail becomes even and snug. cheers, John On 9/10/21 3:34 PM, Gary H.Oberbeck wrote:
Andrei,
Your sail may have shrunk over the years - Measure the mast extrusion from end to end of the 'tube'. That is the measurement that will be the determining factor.
Good luck. Have fUn, go sailing! GO
On Fri, Sep 10, 2021 at 11:29 AM Andrei Caldararu via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
Hello fellow Monty owners, I am the owner of "Seaweed", a 1982 M-17, galley style, serial number MMP173490482. I've owned it since 2008 and have been very happy with it. It has now come time for me to order new sails for it; the old ones are almost 40 years old and show it. I talked to Harry at EP Sails, and he told me that based on his information the luff of the main could be either 19'4" = 232" (for the standard rig) or 20'9" (for the tall rig). However, when I went and measured my old main, the luff came to 222.5", which is about 10" shorter than even the standard rig. I am hoping that maybe someone remembers whether a number of M-17's in that time period were made with shorter masts, and what the sizes of the sails for this shorter version was. I am planning on ordering a main and a standard jib -- my old genoa is in good shape, and I don't use it much on Lake Michigan. Thanks for all suggestions! Best,Andrei.
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