Cleaning colour and glue off of a brand new sail.

[truscott]

Just received a brand new mainsail. When I unrolled it, I discovered that the Glue/Dye from the red draft stripes (the sail has two sets of blue and red draft stripes, rather than two sets of single black ones that I am used to), has leached into the sail so that the folds above and below each draft stripe now have twin lines of red dye/glue across each fold!

I have sent photos etc... to the sail loft but, being the weekend, I have not received any response as yet.

We are wondering what is the best remedy (short of shipping the sail internationally back to the sail loft).

Sail is made from Dimension-Polyant OC cloth, which is essentially a Polyester yarn.

So far, we have tried Soap & Water, Acetone, De-Solv-It (A Citrus type solution) and Bleach on a small area only. Whilst the stain is slightly lighter, and the stickiness has gone, the red stain strip is still very noticeable.

Appreciate any thoughts/advice the collective wisdom here, can share.

Cheers, PT

 

[VicS]

peroxide bleach such as Vanish ???

Be very careful with chlorine bleach, although you seem to have been lucky. It can turn polyester sail cloth permanently yellow!

 

[sarabande]

You really should not touch it in any way, as that will invalidate any claim, and may well make the dye transfer worse.

 

[savageseadog]

You really should not touch it in any way, as that will invalidate any claim, and may well make the dye transfer worse.

My thoughts too

 

[wilkinsonsails]

Dry cleaning fluid ,percloroethylene ,used outside,with nitrile rubber gloves .

 

[truscott]

Dry cleaning fluid ,percloroethylene ,used outside,with nitrile rubber gloves .

Is that something that is usually easy to find? Or is it more likely an industry only kind of thing?

Cheers, PT

 

[Dan Tribe]

You really should not touch it in any way, as that will invalidate any claim, and may well make the dye transfer worse.

That was my reaction also. What effect will chemicals have on the cloth finish & fillers.
If you don't want the hassle of returning the sail, offer to get the advice of a local sailmaker at the suppliers cost.

 

[savageseadog]

I think my course of action would be to get the bloody thing hoisted and get sailing really. The odd mark here and there will never be noticed and probably no visible to anyone other than someone who knows it's there. Will it make any difference to the performance?

 

[[70521]]

We are wondering what is the best remedy (short of shipping the sail internationally back to the sail loft).

Return to the sail loft. Yes I am aware that it is overseas.

Had the sail maker come out to the boat to fit my new sails this season; I call that service and the joy of buying local.

 

[truscott]

Well.... when you are several thousand into a new sail, you sort of want it to look better than the sail it is replacing. I'm not that happy with the idea of having Zebra coloured sails, but if you are, I'll happily sell them to you.

PT.

 

[truscott]

Supplier has suggested cleaning with Acetone. Have done that, which removes the glue but not the dye so far.

Am looking at sourcing some Dry Cleaning Fluid as suggested by wilkinsonsails (who I presume is associated with Wilkinson Sails and therefore, might know a thing or two about cleaning sails). There is a canvas tentmaker/sail repair loft guy here in DXB that I am trying to contact to see if he is up for the challenge (providing the supplier is ok for the costs etc....)

In the Suppliers defence, he has offered to replace the sail , just throws a serious spanner in the works for this summer.

PT

 

[Daydream believer]

In the Suppliers defence, he has offered to replace the sail , just throws a serious spanner in the works for this summer.

PT

When i was speaking to Hyde sails about the sail for my hanse 31 they said it takes 1 day to make the sail. I do not know who you bought yours from or how big your boat is but even if they took 3 days and you added 6 for transport that should not be much of a wait.
bearing in mind it is their cock up and you ordered your sail long before those that are in the sail lofts current pipeline they should complete your order first so they should turn yours around in just over 9 days
if they say they are busy just remind them that you ordered your sail long before the people that they are currently working on so yours should go to top of the list as the order has not actually been fulfilled yet.