Rolf:

I agree with you to a certain point. Its fun to do it yourself, (especially if you are saving money). But, if you have to chase parts all over town, that's boring. I figure he needs a replacement batten pocket;-that's a trip to the Hobie dealer (that's always fun!) Now, the dealer probably has some white sail cloth, which is fine for the luff tape, but its unlikely he has colored sail cloth. Now, you look on the internet to see if you can order colored sail cloth. Hobie doesn't have any , but the recent production colors. (No luck there.) So now, you start searching other marine suppliers, but its hard to tell from the web sites, if the colors match. Now, you look in the yellow pages for local places that sell colored dacron. Most marine stores cater to stink boats and can't help you. They refer you to the Hobie dealer you already checked with. Now, you look in the yellow pages for textile dealers and find they don't have the textiles you need. While paging through the yellow pages, you discover sail lofts are actually listed in the yellow pages. You call one, and they say they are willing to see if they can match your colors. You bring in your mainsail to them and they say, YES, we have some textile that is a pretty close match and will be glad to sell some to you. Then they also offer to repair your sails for $40. By now, you are tired of running around and just want it done. So you leave your sails, and its done 3 days later.