Latest order date

Work backwards from season readiness without inventing a universal lead time.

Use the dates and durations in your current quotes or loft conversations. The planner returns the latest safe start for the entered sequence and makes the chosen buffer visible.

Quick answer

Subtract the whole workflow, not a generic lead-time number

Set the date the sail must be ready, then enter the planning, approval, material, production, inspection and delivery assumptions from the current job. Loftline converts the entered work hours using the weekly capacity available to this order, adds external waits and your buffer, and subtracts the resulting calendar duration from the required date. The output is the latest safe planning start for that scenario.

The default order example contains 98 hours of work, 29 external wait days and a five-day buffer. At 35 available hours per week, that becomes 20 work-calendar days and 54 total calendar days. The example is intentionally editable because season, sail type, construction, supplier timing and shop load can change the real sequence.

Browser-local scenario

Calculate the latest planning start

No account · no boat data

Replace every example with your current quote, handoff and loft-capacity assumptions. Nothing leaves this page.

This worksheet does not recommend sail dimensions, cloth, construction, rig compatibility, passage timing or staffing, and it cannot promise a completion or delivery date.

A passage or season date is only a planning boundary here. This page does not advise whether, when or where to sail.

Choose the correct required date

The required date should be earlier than the first day the sail is genuinely needed. Leave time for fitting, any boat-side work and a controlled check before an event or passage. Do not turn a safety-critical sailing date directly into a production promise. The calculator only places the entered workflow on a calendar; it cannot assess weather, vessel readiness or seamanship.

If the quote already contains a confirmed delivery window, translate each known part into the closest stage instead of replacing it with generic defaults. Record decision and specification approval separately when either can hold the job. Keep cloth and hardware readiness as external wait days unless the supplier has confirmed availability. Enter production and finishing as work hours using capacity reserved for this order.

Use scenarios without hiding uncertainty

Expected caseUse the current quoted stages and the capacity the loft expects to reserve.

Conservative caseExtend uncertain waits and add a buffer that can be explained.

Changed caseRecalculate after approval, material or delivery information changes.

Compare the latest safe start between scenarios rather than averaging them. An average can hide a late outcome that matters. If the latest start has already passed, the shortfall quantifies the calendar gap under the entered assumptions; it does not authorize skipping measurement, approval, inspection or delivery checks.

Related planning tools

Use the custom sail delivery planner to inspect the full new-sail sequence from a chosen start date. For an existing sail already needing work, use the repair turnaround planner.