Shade Sails Designs & Layouts

Sample Designs for Shade Sail Coverings

Below are some sample designs for shade sail layouts. There are only a handful of Shade Sail designs shown, because you could make as many designs as you can think of. Many people just like the look of the multiple shade sails when designing or laying out their area. While depending of the size of the area that you need shade, it may take multiple shades to give full shade coverage for the area. Since shade sails by design, all have curves in the outside edges to make the fabric in the center of the shade sail be tight and not sag. Because of the curves in the edges of the shade sail, you cannot install two shade sails next to each other on the same mounting attachment points, without having an opening between the two shades. If you want full coverage, you must have the shade sails overlap each other for total shade coverage. With the help of the designs below, you can design your own designs for the shade coverage that you are trying to acquire.

Why do Shade Sails have Curves in the sides?

The perimeter of each sail is designed with a curve (also referred to as a gore) inwards towards the center of the sail to control the fabric tension. Shade Sails have reinforced webbing around the perimeter and marine stainless steel d-rings or “Delta” rings at each corner. Years ago, people would hang up a tarp with straight sides and grommets in the corners over what they wanted to protect or to shade an area. The grommets in the corners of the tarp were attached and tensioned to the mounting points. The outside edges of the tarp would be tensioned tight, however the middle of the tarp would sag and flap in the wind. So curves were put in the edges of the perimeter and once the corners were pulled, that would attempt to straighten out the curves in the sides, but they could not because they were attached to the fabric in the center of the shade sail. This effect would in turn tighten up the fabric in the center of the shade sail. This eliminates the sagging or loose fabric like in the middle of the tarp with the grommets. When properly tensioned, the fabric will not wrinkle, sag, or flap in the wind.