Sail Case

Last update, July 7, 2007

There were no sail cases built during the construction period prior to the launch of this site. While some were built for various reasons no documentation was completed. The DMYC EC12 Racing Team vehicle at that time carried a case that will hold 12 rigs although it was never full. It was overkill. A smaller case was made for transport to the Sacramento Delta River venue in the summer and an even smaller one was made for airline travel. Two are shown on this site. The team has been experimenting with soft sided cases and found to require less room in a vehicles and found suitable and fashionable for weekend trips.

At the time of the editing, dated above, most sail cases seen at the lake are made in the shop of the boat owner. This is likely to be a better source of ideas than here, as thoughts and need change over time.

Documentation may sometime come to this page. There are so many ways to do this and your own thoughts to design could be better suited for you. However, in the meantime if you would like a simple case for local or airline transport, the following is offered. When materials are on hand and except for glue curing, this case can be built in less than an hour.

A 4x8 sheet of Luan, a 1/8" wood covering for hollow doors at $8, was measured into two pieces for the sails. Sized and glue to the perimeter of these pieces was 1x2 pine. The two pieces were screwed together with drywall screws when the sails were stored inside. A small Black and Decker cordless screwdriver was added to the traveling toolbox. It is not fancy or pretty but works great and protects two rigs. You might get three in there without the jumper spreaders.

In all the cases built here, Velcro was used to secure the rigs inside. As seen, this is at the head and to also hold the boom as the jib likes to move around. That is good, we like that on the water, get active. Velcro is also used for storing the rig divider, a long doubled piece of rigging wire for feeding lines through the fairleads, the triangle for the mast and the wind direction indicator. Over-center latches have worked out best and handles are handy. We have tried both sides of the case...you decide. Piano hinges are needed for a heavier case but found that three individual hinges works quite well on the smaller units.