Whats the best way to ship a main sail? Need to get some repairs done. I removed the battens last night and rolled it tight. I figured folding was out since it would damage the window. Anyone shipped one lately? If so who did you use and how much did it cost?

we ship ours rolled tightly with a cardboard tube in the middle to keep it from bending/kinking. No idea of the cost though.

I used a cardboard concrete piling form. They are light and will protect the sail in shipping. Plus not that expensive. for extra protection you can nest two of them. You should be able to find them at Home Depot.
For UPS there is a max length/width but this should not be a problem for an F16 sail.
The UPS web site will calculate costs based on length/width/weigth.

Fyi Went to UPS store and they can ship for under $40, $65 with them doing the boxing...

Ok, Round 2 of this question. I need to ship a N20 sail to Hawaii. The length of my box without folding is 8.5' which is too big for USPS, UPS or Fedex is $350 to ship. The sails have brand new windows, so I REALLY do not want to fold them, but $350 shipping is not acceptable either.

My new sails came in a cement tube via UPS, not sure what the shipping was as it was in the price. I did take my older main to the UPS store and they quoted me $60 shipped with them packaging it. Of course it wasnt going to Hawaii either.

Hawaii seems to triple the price, It would have to go USPS which has a limit of 130" combined length and girth. It would be about a $100 through them.

There is only one solution. Fold and then fold again ever so gently. Do not fold a rolled sail

The way they measured combined length and girth at my UPS shipping is with a string that is 130 inches long. The go end to end then around the package. If they don't run out of string the package is OK. By using a round tube I was able to ship an M6.0 Main(same size or larger than an N20 main). Remove battens and roll very tight, it should fit. I used a cement tube.

This was what I had in mind when saying "fold and fold again".

It is going to leave marks for sure..

http://www.sailcare.com/foldsend.shtml

^^^ This is how most keel boats store all their sails and as long as you don't press the creases in won't do much damage if done once. If you want to protect the sail even more. Lay an old quilt or blanket on it and fold it up with the sail. This will stop the creases being flattened.

Second thought what does a return flight to the mainland cost? You could always check it as oversize luggage.

^^^ This is how most keel boats store all their sails and as long as you don't press the creases in won't do much damage if done once. If you want to protect the sail even more. Lay an old quilt or blanket on it and fold it up with the sail. This will stop the creases being flattened.

Second thought what does a return flight to the mainland cost? You could always check it as oversize luggage.

Can you get away with putting such a package on a passenger plane? Maybe you can find someone who is flying to Hawaii and would be willing to check it in as baggage. I wonder how much that would cost.

You can definately take a sail on a plane, you just need to check it in with the surfboards etc at the oversize counter.

I've thought about using a hard ski box for bringing sails on a plane. I'd I did the euros, I wanted to use my sails, it seemed like the best way to do it. Not sure if there's a long enough box available though.

Jump skis are 2.5m that should cover it.

After talking with the local sail maker, I ended up folding it once down the center and rolling it very loosely taking a lot of care to make it as flat as possible before rolling to avoid any places bunching up and creasing badly.