X-Drive
4Pages

Photo Courtesy Arcona Yachts UK Sailmakers X-Drive® construction method combines durability, performance, and attractive pricing making it ideal for racing and cruising sailors. UKSAILMAKERS.COM INFO@UKSAILMAKERS.COM

WHAT IS X-DRIVE? X-Drive is a two-part construction system as shown in the diagram to the right. The sail’s surface is made from a light weight laminate sail cloth cut into cross cut panels that, when put together with broad seaming, reproduces the 3-D shape created by the sail designer. Next, the sail is reinforced with a grid of narrow, high-strength, lowstretch tapes that are bonded to the sail 11 at a time in an 8-inch wide path. The finished sail is similar to a Tape-Drive® in construction, while having the appearance of a membrane sail. UK Sailmakers’ X-Drive construction system uses...

CARBON OR GLASS FIBER CARBON FIBER is the highest performance yarn used in sailmaking. As seen in the chart to the right, carbon yarns are at the top of the chart in three out of four criteria used to measure performance. Carbon fiber’s resistance to stretch is three times greater that S-Glass yarns, which are three times more stretch resistant than polyester yarns. UK Sailmakers refers to sails made with S-Glass tapes and polyester laminates are X-Drive Silver sails. Each tape has 4,000 carbon filaments, which means in an 11-tape pass there are 44,000 filaments of carbon laid at time. That is...

TAFFETA LAYERS FOR INCREASED DURABILITY There is the option to use laminates with a fine polyester taffeta on one side. Laminates made with a taffeta side and film side are made with five bars of pressure (atmospheres). After the X-Drive tapes have been bonded to the film side of the sail, you have the extra option of adding a second taffeta applied over the tapes. While taffeta doesn’t add strength to the sail, it does enhance the life of the sail by protecting the tapes and the film layer of the laminate from abrasion. The extra taffeta can be placed over the tapes partially or with full...