Preview: How to Attach Sail Hardware, Part 3 – Sewn on Hanks

*     *     *
OffCenterHarbor.com is a membership website with over 1,000 videos and articles on boat handling, repairs, maintenance, boat building, dream boats and more.

Sign up above to learn more, and get 10 of our best videos.

*     *     *

There’s no school like the old school and Alison Wood shows us how true this is as she walks us through the steps of sewing on a hank.

Get Free Videos Start Free Trial Members Sign In

Comments, Thoughts or Suggestions?

You can leave a comment or question for OCH and members below. Here are the comments so far…

Leave a Comment

11 Responses So Far to “How to Attach Sail Hardware, Part 3 – Sewn on Hanks

  • Avatar

    Christopher Steingraber says:

    What a great video! Thanks for sharing! These seem great because the hold the sail and hanks so tight that the piston stays clear of the sail nice and parallel so you can easily move the piston too. I love the extra patches on the sail and the leather too. This is how it should be done! I had one new hank-on sail I got my hands on for a good deal from Bacon Sails and it had these plastic chafe protectors but they were just long enough to catch on the piston and keep it from closing! so I trimmed them down like the leather here but now there isn’t much protection for the sail. This looks like an excellent design and implementation and will try to stitch on some Dacron triangles on it with my old Pfaff industrial sewing machine. I do have various sails with hammer on hanks and they can be pricey but I have a question…most likely to ask the foundry, to reuse the hammer on hanks I’m sure an annealing process and re heat treating if needed were done would make them usable more times. would not solve the rotation thing but if you have many many hammer on hanks from old sails and want to use them to save money onto new sails that might make sense as an option. I don’t know too much about what temp and process bronze would anneal at or what hardness is a goal for wear resistance while not abrading the forestay if hardening is even possible for bronze.

    • Avatar

      Christopher Steingraber says:

      For example maybe using a propane torch for a bit on the hammer-On Hank on the area where it work hardens might anneal or stress relieve it. That would be good to know if practical such as with a torch and air cool is adequate.

  • Avatar

    David Green says:

    Is there a particular type of leather you use for the hanks? If I’m ever in the market for a suit of sails, these folks will be the first ones I contact for a quote.

  • Avatar

    Chris Tietjen says:

    Thanks Alison and Port Townsend Sails. Those three videos were worth the membership fee. You should do a series making an entire ‘sample sail’ that shows the techniques at every step. Of course no need to redo what you’ve already demonstrated. I’m very appreciative of the level of detail demonstrated. It is after all where the devil is.

  • David Tew

    David Tew says:

    The other day we found a 1965 cotton jib made in England with hanks sewn on like that. It was in the back of an old house’s closet. The sail itself was theadbare but we wanted to save the hanks. Had a devil of a time freeing them from the grommets! Turned the sail in to Sea Bags. They granted us a $150 credit toward having a custom bag made…. https://seabags.com/info/sea-bags-sail-trade-program.html

  • Avatar

    Ralph Wernett says:

    Great video, that’s an art that needs to be passed down. It looks like you have been doing this for a while, seeing you have a Very nice “padded riggers bench”

  • Avatar

    William Fanning says:

    A now even deeper admiration for your sails on my boat!

  • Avatar

    David Riegert says:

    You can tell she enjoys her craft. I’m gonna check how my hanks are put on. I know that I didn’t pay for this level of craftsmanship.

  • Avatar

    peter strietmann says:

    The attention to detail is off the chart!

  • Avatar

    Michael Vaughan says:

    Wow!
    makes me want to ditch my furler.
    Beautiful work.
    Eximious

  • Avatar

    Jeff Cain says:

    Thanks for such a great video, I am now going to check all my hanks. Hope they look as well done as these.

GET THIS FULL VIDEO!

Get Immediate Access, Plus
10 More of Our Best Videos

Your email is safe with us.
We'll NEVER share it, and we DON'T spam.

or …


Start Free Trial

Get Instant Access as a Member to the Entire Site

  • Access all 1000 videos/articles
  • No risk! Cancel anytime
  • Get a nice discount if you join