Jib Sleeve is back and it’s Perfect!!

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I can’t be happier with the fit of the ATN Jib Sleeve!  Looks good. Fits like a glove and now whatever sail is on the fuller will be protected from the sun, wind and other elements.

I bought the sail cover from defender.com. There were cheaper ones out there but this one looked great and I liked the features. It’s very well thought out and can be tightened around the sail once it’s put up so it doesn’t flap around and rip itself to shreds in a good wind storm. The notes for ordering on the website said to order the jib sleeve in the same size as the luff of the longest sail.  That’s 37′ on Cuajota.  So that’s what I ordered. When it arrived I put it over the jib I had converted to roller furling use from hanks. I didn’t realize this sail is 38′ 3″ at the luff.  So when I did a full hoist on the jib sleeve it was a whopping 28″ too short!  So I contacted Defender and they informed me there were no returns on a custom order but they contacted ATN directly and setup a scenario for me to ship it back to them and they lengthened it 28″ for me.  Awesome customer service and it was about 2 week turnaround. I can’t tell anything was done to it. The fit is spot on!  My only complaint in this whole process is that this sleeve is 39′ 4″. There is no way I would have gotten to that size without ordering, hoisting it and then measuring the difference from the bottom of the sleeve to about an inch above the furler drum. Also ordering the size of my jib luff gave me a sleeve that MAY have covered just the sail, now I have a sleeve that covered the top of the furler mount as well as going all the day to the top of the drum. A much better solution. Now on to getting that jib cut properly. It seems it’s about 8 – 12 inches too long. The full travel of the furler is 37′ 6″.  Thanks to North Sails for lending me the tape measure to get that accurate measurement. Now I know what the luff needs to be. So the sail will go back to North Sails for an adjustment. I’ll also keep an eye out for some big sails to get cut down. Maybe some Carbon or Kevlar!

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