Free Yacht Chapter 10: Privateer Knot

Some pals gave us a new mainsail for Solara. That was good, because our old one was stretched out and the leech flapped chronically. The new sail was great, but our mast has a track for brass cars to slide on and this sail didn't have them.

The privateer knot is the quickest way to tie d-rings or other attachments to a sail.
Zan Armstrong demonstrates how to put grommets on the edge of a sail and tie on cars for a mast track. She uses straps of scrap leather to do the job. Here's the finished knot, front and back views.

It took us a couple of hours to grommet the sail and tie the cars on this way. The other methods would have probably taken a couple of days. It looks complicated, but after you've done a couple the rest go on really quick.

In his book "Sailmaker's Apprentice", Emeliano Marino says: "Use heavy, well-oiled latigo leather, cutting an experimental piece to determine the length you need. No not make the slit too close to the end of the leather, and finish all slides equidistant from the sail edge. This is a salty and durable method." This is the best sailmaking book I know of.

continues the Free Yacht saga begun at How to Get a Free Yacht

Here's the table of contents of the whole saga:
Chapter 1: How to Get a Free Yacht
Chapter 2: Maiden Voyage of the Free Yacht
Chapter 3: Fix Broken Stix and other Trix
Chapter 4: Outboard Motor Mutilates Foot
Chapter 5: It's sinking and it's on Fire.
Chapter 6: How To Give Away a Free Yacht
Chapter 7: Get an Even Better One and Fabulize it.
Chapter 8: Celebrate Freedom
Chapter 9: Technicolor Dreamboat
Chapter 10: Privateer Knot
Chapter 11: Dismasted!
Chapter 12: Kiteboat!
Chapter 13: Mast Raising

Zan skins a leather car seat she found in a dumpster.
The leather is good quality, and it's free!

This sail doesn't have grommets where we want them.
It was made to slide by it's boltrope in a mast slot.

We're putting grommets every 18" or so.
First put a piece of wood under the sail and use a punch to make a clean hole.
The punch is basically just a pipe with a sharp edge, if you'd like to make one.

Put the base of the grommet setting die on something solid.
Put the bottom part of the grommet on top of it. It will fit perfectly in the depression in the top of the die.
Pull the hole in the sail over the grommet and push it down around the grommet.
Put the grommet's toothed washer over the protruding part of the grommet.
insert the grommet setting die into the grommet.
Whack it with a mallet until the grommet is perfect.

Repeat on all the other holes you need to grommet.
If the grommet splits or gets a sharp crease in it, either you're wacking it too hard, things aren't lined up right, or your cloth isn't thick enough for the grommets you're using.

Using scissors and a knife, cut a bunch of straps that look like this.
The wide part of the strap is about 3/4" wide, and it tapers at one end to a tip.
The slot is a little under an inch long.
Put the straps through the cars as shown.

Start as shown, then insert the pointed end through the car again, going over the strap already there and around through the grommet again.

Insert the pointy end through the slot in the tail as shown.
Poke it back under both layers of strap.
Pull it around and poke it under the top layer of strap as shown.
Pull it tight.

You're done!

Here's what the other side of the knot looks like.

Congratulations, you've got a nice-looking privateer knot.
Now do the rest of them!

Dave uphauls the new sail.
The ties worked great and after months of use needed no attention ever.

We decided to try our old mainsail as a jib. We used more privateer knots to tie bronze jib hanks onto it. It was way too bagged and sagged out to have good shape as a mainsail, but it was great as a jib!
Probably because forestay sag puts belly into the sail right where leech stretch takes it out of a main.
Definitely a handy trick.

The Free Yacht saga continues at Chapter 11: Dismasted!

Here's the table of contents of the whole saga:
Chapter 1: How to Get a Free Yacht
Chapter 2: Maiden Voyage of the Free Yacht
Chapter 3: Fix Broken Stix and other Trix
Chapter 4: Outboard Motor Mutilates Foot
Chapter 5: It's sinking and it's on Fire.
Chapter 6: How To Give Away a Free Yacht
Chapter 7: Get an Even Better One and Fabulize it.
Chapter 8: Celebrate Freedom
Chapter 9: Technicolor Dreamboat
Chapter 10: Privateer Knot
Chapter 11: Dismasted!
Chapter 12: Kiteboat!
Chapter 13: Mast Raising