sails

[Farm boy]

hi guys
my mum bought a sail 3m x3m x3m from bunnings for $19.95 with no instructions.
how do i instal this thing please
any advice welcome
cheers
greg

[fxst]

on a yacht
Pete

[Farm boy]

thanks pete
just the answer i was looking for

[Rosethorn]

Decide where you want to install it. Decide what you are going to attach it too - tree?,post? etc. You will need various stainless steel fittings such as eyebolts, etc to attach to your post etc (Bunnings will have a whole section of this stuff). The main thing to be aware of is wind and the fact that on a windy day, the uplift of the sail can be considerable - so choose carefully where you attach the sail to or else things could get flying.
cheers rosethorn

[Barry_White]

Greg

If you are going to attach it to the house you need to fix it to either brick work or at least the wall studs if you are fixing it to a wall. If you are going to fix it to the eaves don't fix it to metal fascia. It needs to be fixed to the ends of the rafters.

I believe those ones they had on special where triangular ones so you will need a post out from the house and needs to be concreted in about 3 feet in the ground and laying back at an angle away from the house.

The other thing was I also believe they are made from shade cloth so the wind up lift would not be as severe as a solid vynal sail cloth as the shade cloth will let a lot of the wind to pass through it.

As rosethorn says go to Bunnings and get some fittings for it. If you are going to fix it to a wall stud I would use a minimum 3/8" screw eyes. If you are fixing it to brick get a Dynabolt screw eyes the largest possible and if you are going to fit it to the end of rafters I would use an angle bracket bolted to the side of the rafter so that it runs along the back of the fascia and then drill a hole through the fascia and put eye bolts through the fascia into the bracket with a nut both on the fascia side as well as the back. A Nyloc nut would be better because the wind action may loosen the nuts.

I really dont think stainless steel fittings are neccessary. Hot dipped gal or Zinc plated should be okay unless you live on the coast

[MrFixIt]

[snip]...don't fix it to metal fascia. It needs to be fixed to the ends of the rafters.

NOTE! To confirm, Barry said rafterS. Don't just fix it to ONE rafter. Spread the load over at least three rafters.

[Ashore]

Greg was that the normal price or was it on sale

Knowing where you are go with the stainless fittings , but try bullbecks , along from the fish markets at wickham or through the gates at Hamilton.
Proberly better quality , range and price

Rgds

[Trav]

If you are fixing it to bricks, I have heard of fixing a big metal plate (with an eye bolt) to, say, 4 bricks, then fixing the sail to that eye bolt. It'd spread the load so it is not concentrated on one poor brick. No idea where to get it though. A metal work shop could fix one up for you no trouble.

Trav

[knucklehead]

Just a word of advice (cos it happened to me). A 3 meter sail is quite small by the time it is hoisted up high enough to be effective. So the 3 meter sail gets installed, a week later another and so forth. That $20 shade cloth just got a lot more expensive.

Do some measurments a buy the size that is most appropriate. Keep in mind the cost of fixings. In my case it was cheaper to use 5 meter sails because they reached existing poles and I used less fixings i.e 2 sails instead of 3 or more.

[Farm boy]

thanks for the advice guys

russel - according to mum this sail was on special

barry i am going for the wall stud solution as the sail will fit nicely off the house as it is L shaped were the sail will go

next problem
how do you keep your wife happy when doing something for your mum?:eek:
sometimes you feel like you cant do anything right.
am i the only one like this
cheers
greg

[Barry_White]

You will only ever have one mum but could end up with more than one wife over a period of time.

Best advise any one can give is to always look after your mum. Just tell your wife your mum can only have you a little bit of the time your wife can have you most of the time.

You will find when you retire your wife will tell you to get out from under her feet because when they end up getting you full time they find that was not really what they wanted.

Just remember no matter what you do you are never going to be right so you just have to live with it.