Double Taffeta Titanium – Cruising Mainsail
An XP50 Uni-Titanium double taffeta boom-furling mainsail and roller/furling genoa. Click to enlarge.
For cruising boats, Double-Taffeta Titanium cruising sails are a great option instead of heavy, multi-ply Dacron or radially-paneled sails. Double-Taffeta Titanium sails are made with continuous loadpath yarns fused between two layers of film. The exposed side of the film is covered with a finely woven polyester taffeta – creating a five-layer sandwich.
Titanium® sails are made with a grid of continuous carbon loadpath yarns running unbroken between the three corners of the sail; those yarns are laminated between two layers of 3D-shaped film. In the Titanium construction process, the yarns are laid dry–without glue–to reduce weight and to prevent the carbon yarns from becoming brittle. The mylar films are tacky on the inside from the copolymer coating; this holds the yarns and films in place until the final lamination has been completed.
The five layers (taffeta, film, loadpath yarns, second film layer, taffeta) are dropped into a variable geometry thermo form in which the sail is heated and UV-bonded under vacuum pressure to become a one-piece finished membrane.
Not coating the yarns with glue makes for lighter (by 15-30%), more flexible, and more durable sails, which makes happier foredeck teams and happier owners who are not replacing their misshaped and broken sails as often.
Yes, there are seams in a Titanium sail, but they are there simply to shape the film layers. Unlike most high-tech sails in which structural yarns only run the width of an individual panel, a Titanium sail’s continuous yarns eliminate seam loads, load-induced seam distortion, wrinkles, or worse yet, seam failure. Titanium sails are smooth and wrinkle free.
Titanium fully-battened mainsail and cruising genoa with foam luff on an XC42. Both sails have double sided white taffeta. Click to enlarge.
Extra Durability With Taffeta
While very strong, Double-Taffeta Titanium sails are made more durable with the addition of a finely woven polyester taffeta layer laminated to both sides. The taffeta layers don’t add strength to the sail, but they protect the film layer from abrasion, which is a great benefit for cruising sailors. Taffeta comes in white or grey.
Available Details
Available with:
– Reefs
– Loose Foot
– Cunningham
– Telltales
– Draft Stripes
– Sail Numbers
– Leechline Options
Battens:
– Powerhead
– Full Battens
– Furling Mains
Other Options:
– Lazy Cradle
– Lazy Jacks
– Dutchman
– Sail Cover