by GreenLake » Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:38 pm
People make sails from H/W store tarps, so I imagine, cutting down a tarp and re-gluing the edges is doable (or at least a well-understood process that you can find discussed somewhere). I've made good experience with "heavy duty" versions of the white tarps; they regularly last me a bit over a year. (On land, draped over the mast, in my case) The trick for getting the most life out of this would be to set it up that it's under good tension, and to add a strip doubling it where it rests on the boom. (That's where I see mine failing first). After the first season, I'd use the previous one as a second cover whenever I'm not using the boat weekly.
On land, you have the luxury of hooking onto the trailer, but fashioning or purchasing suitable clips for the rubrail should not be too hard.
The advantage of starting with cheaper materials might be in allowing you to make sure your pattern works as intended before you commit yourself.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~