New dacron sail, want to remove bug stains before the season. Suggestions? Sailbrite Sail Cleaner, hydrogen peroxide? Diluted dish soap?
Sail cleaning
- Thread starter PGUTIERREZ
- Start date
First, scrub the gross stains.
Oxiclean at the recommended conc. Long soak (2 hours), then rinse well. The active ingredient is peroxide. It is safe for sails and is the main ingredient in most sail cleaners.
Quick and Safe Sail Cleaning - Practical Sailor
Oxiclean at the recommended conc. Long soak (2 hours), then rinse well. The active ingredient is peroxide. It is safe for sails and is the main ingredient in most sail cleaners.
Quick and Safe Sail Cleaning - Practical Sailor
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,455
I like Oxyclean. Great suggestion. I usually mix it up in a bucket, pour it on a stain. Lightly brush with a soft brush. Let it soak. Then I rinse the sail material well with plenty of water.
You need a good space to lay out a sail. Chemicals can damage the grass if you try and use your front lawn.
You need a good space to lay out a sail. Chemicals can damage the grass if you try and use your front lawn.
OxiClean makes chemical sense for stain removal, but it’s not always the best choice. If your sail has brightly colored insignias or lettering, a gentler cleaner may be safer.
OxiClean’s active ingredient is sodium percarbonate, which dissolves in water to form hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate. The sodium carbonate raises the pH to around 11, helping loosen and break down stains. Adding a small amount of detergent further helps dissolve lipid‑based stains. The hydrogen peroxide breaks down into free radicals, which are strong oxidizers that disrupt pi-bonds in chlorophores (color producing compounds) and cause stains (especially tannins from leaves or wood and other biological stains) to fade. Unfortunately, this same process can also fade colored insignias or emblems on your sail.
If color preservation is important, Woolite might be a better option. Its active ingredients (sodium laureth sulfate, alcohol ethoxylates (C10-16), and sodium alkyl benzenesulfonates) are mild surfactants. They do not create high alkalinity or release oxidizing radicals, and they are specifically formulated to avoid attacking color-producing pigments.
If your sail has both stubborn biological stains and areas with bright colors, you can selectively clean different sections using different products.
I have read (on here I think) that white vinegar and a brush are effective against mildew stains. I have not tried it so I can't recommend.
The last time I cleaned a sail I rolled the sail, placed it in a clean 60‑gallon trash can, filled the can with water and a bottle of Woolite, and let it soak overnight. The next day, I laid the sail out on the patio and rinsed it thoroughly with a hose.
OxiClean’s active ingredient is sodium percarbonate, which dissolves in water to form hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate. The sodium carbonate raises the pH to around 11, helping loosen and break down stains. Adding a small amount of detergent further helps dissolve lipid‑based stains. The hydrogen peroxide breaks down into free radicals, which are strong oxidizers that disrupt pi-bonds in chlorophores (color producing compounds) and cause stains (especially tannins from leaves or wood and other biological stains) to fade. Unfortunately, this same process can also fade colored insignias or emblems on your sail.
If color preservation is important, Woolite might be a better option. Its active ingredients (sodium laureth sulfate, alcohol ethoxylates (C10-16), and sodium alkyl benzenesulfonates) are mild surfactants. They do not create high alkalinity or release oxidizing radicals, and they are specifically formulated to avoid attacking color-producing pigments.
If your sail has both stubborn biological stains and areas with bright colors, you can selectively clean different sections using different products.
I have read (on here I think) that white vinegar and a brush are effective against mildew stains. I have not tried it so I can't recommend.
The last time I cleaned a sail I rolled the sail, placed it in a clean 60‑gallon trash can, filled the can with water and a bottle of Woolite, and let it soak overnight. The next day, I laid the sail out on the patio and rinsed it thoroughly with a hose.
I have a 55 gallon drum that I fill with water and Oxyclean, following the proportions on the box. I also use Oxyclean to lightly scrub stains then immerse, soak for a few hours..After a good rinse on a tarp, my sails look amazing.
Yes ... and at the same time no.
Obviously, you should wash off common dirt before any bleaching step. Rust stains come off with a mild acid (not nylon sails). Bird stains and mildew with a weak borax solution (which will kill the mildew and retard its return). Woolite simply won't do as much, and a weak alkilie for a short period will do nothing to sail cloth. The charm of Woolite is that it does not remove natural oils from wool.
All of the commercial sail cleaners use percarbonate. Additionally, the insignia color is very fade-resistant or the sun would have bleached it. It is far more fade-resistant than the clothing Oxiclean is meant for. The percarbonate, used according to instructions, will have no effect.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,455
It is a resin saturated into the cloth. There is a refresher company that will help to clean and promise to refresh the cloth. It will add some years to a sail, but as the sail ages the strands of the cloth are stretched. Eventually pinholes form and there is no recovery as the sails take on that baggy look of sails on a square rigger from the 1700’s. They are ok for going downwind (just like Great Grandma’s bloomers). Sailing to windward becomes nearly impossible.
lots of effective options already. Equally if not more important is timing. Rather than cleaning “before” the season, do it AFTER the season so as to avoid letting stains set in storage all winter. Often easier to remove recent stains than old ones.
No sail loft puts sails in storage without first cleaning them.