sailmaker ounce

(smoz)

   a traditional unit measuring the weight (per unit area) of sailcloth. The weight in sailmaker ounces is the weight in ordinary (avoirdupois) ounces of a piece of cloth 36 inches by 28.5 inches. Thus 1 smoz is equal to 1.263 ounces per square yard (oz/yd²) or 42.828 grams per square meter (g/m² or gsm). However, spinnakers (the large triangular foresails of yachts) are traditionally named by the fabric weight before it is finished, so these names do not correspond exactly to the sailmaker-ounce weights. A "half-ounce" spinnaker, for example, has a weight of about 0.85 smoz or 37 gsm, and a "three-quarter-ounce" spinnaker has a weight of about 1 smoz.