Sail Maintenance Question

[Bob S]

Is it wise to have your sails laundered before storing them for the winter? Is this something you'd do every year? Can you just hose them down on the front lawn to remove salt which I'd assume would be a wise thing to do before storing? Can you use soap? a pressure washer? What is the correct way to store your sails. They are expensive and I want to keep them the best I can without breaking the bank if possible.

 

[sailingdog]

Don't pressure wash your sails...you'll probably damage them doing that. Best thing to do is get a really big tub and wash the sails using something like woolite or oxiclean. Don't use a strong detergent, as it can strip the resin that impregnates the sails. Also, if your sails aren't Dacron, don't wash them this way, just rinse them off... since mildew is a very big problem on laminate sails... so make sure they're dry.

Flake the sails loosely and store in a cool dry area.

 

[RichH]

Not necessarily ....

Is it wise to have your sails laundered before storing them for the winter?
*** Not needed unless there is fungus infection (teeny black specks), etc.

Is this something you'd do every year?
*** No only when needed

Can you just hose them down on the front lawn to remove salt which I'd assume would be a wise thing to do before storing?
*** You can rinse them on the boat with a garden hose; just spray them as you raise them, then let dry if the wind is light or go sailing.
Especially woven dacron is a 'dirt magnet' that releases dirt only with great effort ... dont clean sails on the ground, on mud, on grass, in a parking lot, etc.

Can you use soap?
*** On woven dacron or dacron laminates ... yes with qualifications.
There are specific soaps available for sails; these are specific formulation soaps that are compatible with the plasticizers in the sail. I use detergents that are of a sodium silicate base. be sure to TOTALLY rinse any soap out of a sail before storage. Sailrite.com and other internet sailmaking suppliers sell the soap ... but I prefer something 'stronger'.

a pressure washer?
*** NEVER EVER EVER use a pressure washer on a sail ... it will blast the plasticizers, 'other' fillers and will/may strain the fibers ... the stuff that makes some sails 'stiff'.
NEVER EVER EVER put a sail into a 'washing machine' for the same reason.

What is the correct way to store your sails?
*** Loose rolled, tube-bagged and hung vertically from a (high) ceiling - prevents wrinkles & creases.
Otherwise 'accordian pleat' them and bag them. Its important to store only TOTALLY DRY sails (retards/prevents fungal growth on the fabric and especially INSIDE the seams, etc.

They are expensive and I want to keep them the best I can without breaking the bank if possible.[/QUOTE]


DIY sail washing (- for DACRON sails ... and for boats WITHOUT bare teak decks, etc.):
On a cloudy windless day, put a plastic tarp under the sail, drop the sail to the deck/tarp a few feet at a time while you 'mist' the sail with a garden hose and spritz on the detergent from a spray bottle. Use a 6ft. long handle on a 'soft' scrubbing brush and spread the detergent. When full done spritzing cover the sail and let soak for ~ 1 hour.
After one hour, start raising the sail in 'increments' as you lightly scrub the sail. When fully 'up', drop the sail onto the tarp and let sit another hour.
Raise and scrub again then immediately raise the sail as you rinse with the garden hose, repeat the rinse until NO soap comes out of the fabric.
By now most of the 'fungus specks', dirt, mud, etc. will be removed ... but the sail may still be rust or tannin (yellow) stained.

Bleaching (Not for colored panels nor laminate sails)
Get some oxalic acid crystals from a hardware store, Dissolve in 2-3 gallons of warm water ..... apply the oxalic to the fabric with the long handled brush until the whole sail is raised. Rinse several times. Dont mix detergent and oxalic. Caution --- Wear protective gear (foulies, goggles, rubber gloves) when applying oxalic .... as it will quickly absorb through your skin and do harm to your kidneys.

Let the sail totally dry ... go sailing !!!!!

The above will (especially when using sodium silicate based detergents) remove 95% of the dirt/crud/ rust,blood, tannin stains.

hope this helps

 

[Bob S]

Great advice

I've cut and pasted your reply and made it part of my maintenance library.

 

[RichH]

Re: Great advice

One of the best detergents that Ive ever found for cleaning woven dacron sails is a product called "tuff-eNuff". Its a highly caustic, sodium silicate based inorganic detergent. Its commonly found in better east coast chandleries and sometimes in local West Marine stores; it is expensive.

Its also good for cleaning teak, removing mold/mildew in bilges and the 'undersides' of soles, cabinets, lockers .... those teeny black spots (aspergilis and stochybatris mold). Good for stripping old dead wax from gelcoat porosity ... initially turns the gelcoat 'yellowish' but soon disappears. Good for removing (dissolves) 'artillery fungus' (those zillions of teeny black specs.) that form on gelcoat during the 'wet season' ... but totally removes any wax.
To prevent growth of mold/mildew on *unpainted/unvarnished* interior surfaces, I spray on and leave it - a modern equivalent of 'whitewashing'.

 

[ITMaster]

After I have been out sailing

I will generally open them up (I have furling systems) and leave them loose and just hose them off with fresh water and let them hang until they are dry. If they are soiled, I use a very mild detergent to lighty work and lift the soiled area and then rinse really well.
After 4 years of use, I pulled them and had my sailmaker send them to a place that professionally cleaned them and then had the sailmaker replace and reinforce the webbing at the head and do some minor stiching repair on the UV protector. Since I leave them up all the time, I felt that this would be a good thing to do. I need to become and am going to try to be more disciplined about pulling them down when I come back in and storing them. Yet, this is not always so practicle, since I frequently use the boat every 3rd or 4th day for 3 to 5 days all spring and summer and fall long. I figure it is less work, yet it is really not as good for them as it would be to pull them. But then to pull them and then feed them back into the slot and pull them and feed them back in could put a lot of wear and tear on the luff cord and maybe it is better to leave them in.
But that is what I do for now. I think that is less damaging to the sails and puts less wear and tear on them, be interested to know what others do that have furling systems

 

[bffatcat]

Washing sails

I just got back from the laundromat where I washed my genoa in a 75 lb
capacity machine and my main and working jib in separate 50lb machines. I used woolite for a detergent. I than used a dryer on medium to dry the sails.
I dont think this will work on sails for a boat over 27ft unless you can find a
washing machine with larger capacity