How to Reinstall a Sail's Corner Ring

The Islander 37 sail we are working on in this “Sail Repair How-To Series” is old, and we found that the leech had stretched out and no longer provided the support we need in a sail. The foot also needed to be fixed. In our previous video, “Recutting a Sail’s Leech and Foot Edge Video” (#200685XHT) we cut the leech and foot, thus cutting off the sail corner ring. In this follow-up video, we will show you how to reinstall a corner ring using webbing.

You should watch the previous video first if your sail leech is fluttering and you need to recut the leech and foot edges. After you’ve made those adjustments, you will be ready to learn how to reinstall the clew D ring.

We chose to use Dyneema webbing for our corner ring installation. Dyneema is highly UV resistant, exceptionally abrasion-resistant, strong, low stretch has excellent resistance to chemicals and does not absorb water. It’s a great webbing choice for sails as well as other marine DIYs. It’s also thin and easy to sew, which makes it ideal for use in sail corners where there are already several layers of sailcloth to sew through as well as the two layers of webbing.

For a sewing machine that can handle multiple layers of sailcloth and webbing, there’s nothing compared to the Sailrite^® Ultrafeed^® LSZ Walking Foot Sewing Machine. It can power through up to eight layers of Dacron Sailcloth and 10 layers of Sunbrella^® Marine Grade fabric. Its portable size means you can take it with you on your sailboat for onboard repairs and sail maintenance.

Join us as we tackle this latest DIY in our Sail Repair series. Looking for more sail repair videos? Be sure to check out our entire Sail Repair blog collection. Find the “How-To” drop-down menu on our website and select “Marine Projects.” From there, select “Sail Repair” under the “How-To Series” category. Explore our entire inventory of videos on how to get your sail in tip-top shape for next year’s sailing season.