What woud be an effective but cheap material to make a sail out of?

Answer 1

dont try to re-invent the wheel here.....people have been looking for cheap effective sail material for 4,000 years....and what we have come up with is canvas, dacron and nylon.......

now, effective was the key word there...a sail to work well has to have some strength to its fabric, otherwise it stretches out of shape or tears apart under load...so a blue plastic tarp from the hardware store would last a few times then go away.

Awning material....the trade name we use in the Caribbean is Sunbrella......works well, but weighs about twice as much as Dacron....if you need something cheap, try salvageing an old awning

Answer 2

We have friends who have made sails out of the blue poly tarps. They worked fine. They even won races. It was a 24 foot bolger schooner, sharpy with a tarp fisherman sail and they won at the sharpy race at Fairport CT.

You can get very reasonable sails at Atlantic Sail Traders. Theyhave always come through for us and back their product.

Answer 3

Poly tarp material is about the cheapest material that is stretch resistant.
Check this out:

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/articles/polysail/index.htm

Answer 4

just buy a sail online
from northsails or UKsails it is wayyy more reliable than creating your own ESPECIALLY if you dont even know what to make one out of

just a little advice

Answer 5

Dacron, that's what lots of sails are made of.

Answer 6

The polytarp was a good answer. You can use orange ones too.

Answer 7

I would look at quilting jeans together :)

Answer 8

canvas