Shade sails, plus the heavy gauge steel posts, ground sockets, wall brackets and tensioning hardware you need to rig them. Our posts are made in our own Sheffield workshop, hot dip galvanised and powdercoated, and built for the loads a tensioned sail actually puts into a post rather than the loads a fence post sees.
Posts come in two sizes. The 48mm medium duty post suits most gardens and can be concreted in or dropped into a lift-out ground socket. The 60mm heavy duty post is for larger sails, longer spans and exposed gardens, where the thicker tube deflects less and is far less prone to taking a permanent bend; it is concreted straight into the ground.
This is the thing worth understanding before you buy anything. A tensioned shade sail pulls sideways on the top of the post, hard, and it does it constantly. The sail has to be stretched taut to stop it flapping, and every gust then adds to that. The post is a long lever with only its footing holding it, so the load at ground level is many times what you applied at the top.
That is why timber fence posts bend and why thin wall imported tube folds at ground level. Our posts are heavy wall steel, hot dip galvanised inside and out, and sized for the job rather than for the price point.
Two things decide whether a sail works or sags, and both are set before you dig.
Rake the posts away from the sail. A shade sail post should lean away from the sail by around 5 to 10 degrees, not stand plumb. Tension then pulls the post towards upright instead of bending it inwards. Posts set perfectly vertical will visibly pull in once the sail is tensioned, and it looks wrong from the first day.
Give it a fall so rain runs off. A sail with all its corners at the same height holds water, and a pool of water weighs far more than the fabric was ever meant to carry. Set opposite corners at different heights so there is a clear slope across the sail. The bigger the sail, the more fall it needs.
A shade sail post needs a far bigger footing than a washing line pole. If you have fitted a washing line pole before, do not use that hole size as your guide. The footing is what resists the overturning, and on a large sail it is the single most common thing to be underdone. A heavier post does not reduce that: if anything it means the loads are higher, so the hole matters more rather than less.
Size it against the sail rather than the post: a small triangular sail over a seating area is a very different load from a large square sail over a patio. Send us the sail size, the post positions and what your ground is like and we will tell you what we would dig, and whether a ground socket or a base plate is the better answer in your situation. It costs nothing to ask and it is a miserable job to put right afterwards.
Worth saying plainly, because it affects what you buy: a shade sail is not a permanent roof. It should come down in high winds and over winter, both to protect the fabric and because a sail left up through a gale is how posts and footings get damaged. Tensioning hardware with turnbuckles and shackles is what makes taking it down and putting it back up a ten minute job rather than a wrestling match, which is why we would not skip it.
Hot dip galvanised first, then powdercoated in any RAL colour, so there is zinc under the paint rather than paint straight onto bare steel. A chip on site is then a cosmetic matter rather than the start of a rust patch. Stainless is available where the post is a feature or the property is coastal. Everything is fabricated in our Sheffield workshop by the same welders who make our balconies and staircases, which is a different proposition from a flat packed import.
Worth reading first: our shade sail post buying and fitting guide, which covers post sizes, heights, spans, rake, footings and what else you need.
This is made to order in our own Sheffield workshop, so it can just as easily be made to your dimensions instead. Send a photo and rough sizes and we will price it.
