Hi all,

Is it possible (without buying a new sail) to convert a pinhead to squaretop. I have a hobie 16 mainsail that I was contemplating cutting above the 2nd batten from the top.
Will this work?

Cheers
David

Cutting to make a sail for what? But to answer your question: Yes, it is possible to convert a sail to squaretop. I had Randy Smyth quote me to square the top of a new Nacra 5.O sait (which I had acquired elsewhere.) I didn't do it at the time, but I would now if I still owned the boat.
sail fast

i don't think you can simply cut off the top of the sail to make a squaretop sail. although the shape may be right, the sail would be too short. i'm not a sailmaker, but i think you would need to add a panel to the bottom or middle of the sail.

I've cut a H16 mast to 21' for a 20' catamaran I built. The sail would fit without adding panels.

Thanks
David

If you just cut off top of sail, you may not have tension in the right parts of the sail for the top "square" piece to stand out. You may either need to add a batten on a diagonal, ending at the outer tip of the square top.
I think you should look at some photos of square top mains, or consult a sailmaker, before you just cut off 2 panels.