Sail Cleaning / Maintenance

[Richard Obrosky]

Welcome Bill & Mark !I have recently purchased a 1987 Catalina 22 , #13975from the original owner. She has been in the watersince new, but has not received much maintenance. For the past year, the owners did not sail her, &mud wasps built nests in the sails, which were rolledon the boom under canvas cover. ( she has the factoryCatalina sails.) Can you recommend a good cleaning formula , & how I should go about washing the sails ?The sails are also really wrinkled, which I am hoping I can correct some by washing. Thanks in advance foryour consideration. Rich O. P.S. I will be looking for a spinnaker later this year.Any recommendations ?

 

[Bill]

clean sails

given the age of the sails, I would just buy a commercially available sail cleaner. The companies like sail care do a remakable job but since they are CAT 22 sails and can be purchsed new off the rack from several suppliers at a pretty good price I would just clean myself or buy new if they are streched out and in need of repair. JSI and Sail are sources that crank catalina sails out like crazy and cheaply.Wash and see how they turn out. If they sails set well just use them.

 

[Mark Ploch]

Bugs

Nothing like freshwater bugs to make a mess. You will probably have some permanent stains just because of the length of time the nest were there. That should not affect the integrity of the sail. Best bet is to lay it out on your lawn and use a mild detergent and a scrub brush and some elbow grease! No bleach. After you dry them fold em up and you'll be suprised how many wrinkles come out. Hope it is warmer there to do this Mark

 

[Dave]

Try sail care

Go to www.sailcare.com and check out there web page and order there catalog. They clean, re-resin, add a fungicidal,a water repellent, and UV protection.Catalog lists a Catalina 22 main cleaning service at $94.I'm going to send my cat27 main this week.Dave.