Kitebuilder.com

[stevef]

I just received the first batch of new fabric from North Cloth. Those of you who recently took advantage of the .70 oz $3.00 sale at Kite Studio got the first taste of this cloth if you ordered white. I snuck a 200 yard roll in the mix to see what you thought. The results were impressive... all the feedback I received was extreemly positive... this is good cloth. The kite surf guys love it.

Unfortunately the $3.00 deal is over, but watch the catalog for this new fabric. Today I received Grades D, C, and B in red, white, and blue. I hope to get it online sometime today. If you would like a sample, send me an email with your name and address.

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A Close Look at NorLite
By Brian Doyle, North Cloth

Spinnaker cloth may look simple, but it is a complex textile composite. Fiber selection, yarn spacing, weaving, resin technology, and—most important—the strength of the warp (the fibers running the length of the panel) contribute to the properties that make fast, stable spinnakers.

Strength to Weight. Spinnaker fabric is as light as modern textile technology can weave it—just two layers of filaments thick, one for the warp and one for the fill. A film-forming polyurethane resin coating fills any gaps in the weave and gives the fabric zero porosity. Spinnaker fabrics have most of their strength in the warp fibers, which carry the primary loads in radial-paneled spinnakers; the resin holds the fabric together and helps the fibers act in concert. NorLite has as much fiber and as little resin as possible, and it has the highest-tenacity nylon fiber available—NorLite’s proprietary yarn is about 11% stronger than the yarn in most other spinnaker fabrics.

Tear strength and firmness. High-performance spinnaker fabric is a balancing act between tear strength and firmness. Firmness is desirable to resist distortion both while sailing and during cutting and sewing, but firm fabric has lower tear strength. NorLite has good tear strength because it is woven with large-diameter, high-tenacity yarns in both the warp and fill. Other nylons are woven with microdenier fill yarns, which were developed for soft, supple apparel fabrics and are inherently much weaker than the fill yarns in NorLite.

Internal damping. NorLite makes more stable spinnakers due to the internal damping, or energy dissipation, designed into the fabric. (To illustrate, a beanbag doesn’t bounce because the friction between the hundreds of beans inside absorbs the energy of an impact.) For optimum internal damping, yarn is better than resin; the friction from millions of yarn intersections in NorLite’s high-count construction dampens vibrations and shock loads. NorLite can be given a firm finish (better shape) and yet still feel “soft,” resulting in a more stable sail.
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Steve Ferrel
Measure once, buy twice!

[Progcraft]

Have you put this Norlite into the catalog yet?
I can't seem to find it.

P.
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There is no box.