[Tucky]

The Glowfast stripes shown on the front page look interesting to me- http://www.glowfast.com/

Anyone know of a source in the US?

[X X-Yachter]

Bump. We want some too.

[pjrs]

Would be more useful as telltales I reckon, need to check the web site

[hyerstay]

pjrs, on Apr 23 2009, 03:06 PM, said:

Would be more useful as telltales I reckon, need to check the web site

Their glow-in-the-dark clutch labels look nice too!

[lakepirate]

Definitely seems cool.

Anyone here actually used them to see if the glow will last through the night?

Also, it looks like its only available in 25m rolls, or am I reading the page wrong.
I wouldn't mind just a few feet to put on the chute...

[glowmaster]

Being the "Glowmaster" I was going to do this before I saw the photos (not as a business but on my sails for GlowBoat)

using

http://www.identi-ta...om/phosphor.htm

or

http://www.chemglow.com/#


I dont sail that much at night, though. Need a new clutch first.

Not trying to take business away from these guys, but..........

glowingly

ed

[Dixie]

Maybe they would sponsor a Full Moon regatta to get the ball rolling? We have them all summer in Miami....

[Slap Shot]

lakepirate, on Apr 23 2009, 05:04 PM, said:

Definitely seems cool.

Anyone here actually used them to see if the glow will last through the night?

Also, it looks like its only available in 25m rolls, or am I reading the page wrong.
I wouldn't mind just a few feet to put on the chute...

I have never seen their stuff but we manufacture photo luminescent safety products. The glow products of today will last in excess of 24 hours, however there is a disclaimer.......the surrounding area must be completely dark. The glow starts off quite bright then diminishes in a logarithmic fashion quickly at first. It will level off after an hour or 2 (depending on the pigments they are using) and then stay at that level for many hours.

So on a moonless cloudy night they will perform as illustrated, if the stars and moon are out they will likely become difficult to see after a few hours. (they will still be glowing at the same level, but your eyes will adjust to the ambient light level making it hard to see.)

As they have worked out a glow patch under the tell tales would work best. Putting the pigments in or on telltales would weigh them down. They pigments typically have a sg > 3.5 so to get them string to glow it would become fairly heavy.

One suggestion I have for them would be to make the labels with the glow as the back ground and the text dark. We have tested both configurations and the glowing letters become difficult to read much sooner than the dark letters on glow background.

Their stuff does look (very) pricey but to meet their claims it should be much brighter than the identi-tape material Glowmaster listed. (ie ASTM 2072 materials are not very bright)

[pjrs]

Slap Shot - sounds like you know what you're talking about, the jib tell tale idea of a patch under the normal wools I can see working , even if you can only see the windward one - just sail slightly below the windward breaking point. What about on the main leech though? Can this stuff be made flexible enough, and luminescent enough, to work there for a night? Any other ideas?

[Slap Shot]

pjrs, on Apr 23 2009, 06:57 PM, said:

Slap Shot - sounds like you know what you're talking about, the jib tell tale idea of a patch under the normal wools I can see working , even if you can only see the windward one - just sail slightly below the windward breaking point. What about on the main leech though? Can this stuff be made flexible enough, and luminescent enough, to work there for a night? Any other ideas?

If you mean for tell tales on the leech of the main then my opinion would be no. While a film could be made light enough to work as tell tales they would not glow very bright for very long. Maybe if one used a UV LED (like a black light) shining on the tell tale with either photo luminescent or fluorescent pigment in it, it would glow quite bright.

[lakepirate]

Slap Shot, on Apr 23 2009, 08:40 PM, said:

...Maybe if one used a UV LED (like a black light) shining on the tell tale with either photo luminescent or fluorescent pigment in it, it would glow quite bright.

I've thought about the UV LEDs, they're cheap and not so hard to find now.

What worries me is that UV light is bad for your eyes, and at night you're eyes would adjust to take in as much light as possible, and would then get a lot of the UV...
I don't necessarily want to trade a few nights of racing for loss of eyesight later on.

But I'm no eye doctor, anyone know if the light put out by the UV LEDs is bad for you?

UV LED data sheet

[Slap Shot]

lakepirate, on Apr 24 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

Slap Shot, on Apr 23 2009, 08:40 PM, said:

...Maybe if one used a UV LED (like a black light) shining on the tell tale with either photo luminescent or fluorescent pigment in it, it would glow quite bright.

I've thought about the UV LEDs, they're cheap and not so hard to find now.

What worries me is that UV light is bad for your eyes, and at night you're eyes would adjust to take in as much light as possible, and would then get a lot of the UV...
I don't necessarily want to trade a few nights of racing for loss of eyesight later on.

But I'm no eye doctor, anyone know if the light put out by the UV LEDs is bad for you?

UV LED data sheet

I can't imagine that there would be enough UV emitted by the LED in this role where it would damage your eyes. Remember that LEDs emit light in a narrow beam. That said I am neither an eye doctor nor looking to develop this product.

[hobot]

OK, I'll go out on a limb and ask a stupid question....
why wouldn't a some sort of a black light setup work for night time telltail reading?

[krash]

We just signed on as a dealer and ordered some tape and tell-tail patches . Give us about a week, and I'll have feedback from my boat.

mike at layline dot com

[Peragrin]

If the results are good then at least one order shall be placed. This looks just right for the night races I enter. Though it is usually raining on those nights. It should make them stand out if I am reading this right.

[lakepirate]

krash, on Apr 24 2009, 01:50 PM, said:

We just signed on as a dealer and ordered some tape and tell-tail patches . Give us about a week, and I'll have feedback from my boat.

mike at layline dot com

Think you'll be able to sell it by the foot?

the 25m roll is a little big for a few uses on a 27' boat...

[krash]

I'll let you know how far it goes. I'm doing up a F18 cat for the Tybee and a Melges 24 for Wed night racing.

[Glowfast Marine]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your interest in Glowfast Marine products.
Thought I would jump on and answer a few of your questions.

A little more about our tapes
They are specifically designed for use on sails and are made of a cloth similar to current sail repair tapes. This makes them light weight, 200 grams per square metre. They also have the same adhesive on them which makes them stick well to sails.

I also thought I would mention a few issues with using vinyl tapes
(These results are from our testing and consulting with sailmakers. I urge you not just to take our word on this and consult you local sailmaker as most of them will have some experience with using glow and reflective tapes)

Vinyl tapes don't stick well to the sail. This is because they stretch at a different rate to sail material and have a tendancy to lift off. The solution is to add a mylar film over the top which will reduce their glow affect.

We have also been informed by a leading sailmaker that they can create a week point in the sail (I want to clarify that i cannot confirm this as during our testing of using vinyl we had problems with adhesion, however we never had a problem with any ripping of sails).

Vinyl tapes also tend to be a bit weighty

In regards to the Slap Shots post below. He is 100 percent correct with the darker the night the easier it is to see our stripes. What we have found though is if it is bright enough that you can't see our tapes glowing it is generally bright enough to see you entire sail anyway.

I would also like to stress the inportance of getting the correct size sail tape for your individual application. We are very keen to make sure that people get the best experience using our products and are always available to help you get the right products for your requirements. You can contact us through our website www.glowfast.com.

We will also be working with our distributors to make sure they have good knowledge of our products and can help you select the right product for your individual needs.

Some things to consider when selecting tape sizes.

How far the product is going to be away (the further up the rig they are the thicker the tapes need to be).

What you are going to use them for i.e if you are only going to be out for a few hours at night you can put smaller draft stipes on but if you want to view them all night then you need a thicker tape.

Hope this has been of help. If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Cheers,
Jason

[Shife]

Copied from another thread:

Somebody on Lake Erie gave Burnsy a couple rolls of the glow sail draft tape. We put it on before the Mac races this year. That shit is the bomb. Not sure if these glowfast guys are selling the same stuff, but if they are, it is awesome. Lasts all damn night. Very cool.

Note, if you are applying the tape to taffeta or dacron, stitch it on. It sticks like mad to mylar, but we had issues with our taffeta coated mylar genoa. We would definitely purchase this product in the future.

[Glowfast Marine]

Shife, on Oct 8 2009, 10:16 AM, said:

Copied from another thread:

Somebody on Lake Erie gave Burnsy a couple rolls of the glow sail draft tape. We put it on before the Mac races this year. That shit is the bomb. Not sure if these glowfast guys are selling the same stuff, but if they are, it is awesome. Lasts all damn night. Very cool.

Note, if you are applying the tape to taffeta or dacron, stitch it on. It sticks like mad to mylar, but we had issues with our taffeta coated mylar genoa. We would definitely purchase this product in the future.

Copied from another thread:

Hmmm, can't say for sure if that was our stuff - It's been going all over the world.
Glad you liked it though! :)

Our Luminous Sail Tapes have the same properties as insignia so it should stick to everything that insignia does as long as the surface is clean and dry.

We've also tested ours on spinnakers. It sticks, and it's light enough that it doesn't make an impct on the way they fly. It also makes for amazing glowing chevrons at night.

[Glowfast Marine]

Hi All,

I know we're not advertising at the moment, but I thought I'd still mention that we've got a new Cruising Series Sail Tape out. This product is just as bright and half the price because we use a different process to make it. It is a little heavier than the original product (which is still on the market) so we don't recommend that you stick this one on spinnakers.

US customers can buy through our stockists or through the website at http://www.glowfast....sail-tape.html.

I just though that this would be helpful for those who found the Racing Series Luminous Sail Tape a little pricey.

Cheers,
Brita