Cleaning sails in a swimming pool??

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AJB43

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My 2 yr old genoa needs cleaning as it has some mould on the luff and some normal dirt/discolouring. I have the offer of putting them in a swimming pool overnight to clean. The pool is warm and chlorinated. Does anybody know if a)this will do any damage to the sail and b) work as a cleaner.
 
Assuming that the pool is OK for swimming in, especially with eyes open, then I can't believe that the water would harm a sail. Similarly I can't believe that it would harm the pool water as the owner could always give the chlorine level a boost afterwards to "burn away" any algae etc. Sounds like a good idea.
 
Wish i had thought of that, i needed to clean some dinghy sails before selling them. I could have chucked them in the jacuzi while swmbo was out.
 
No to both...

[ QUOTE ]
Does anybody know if a)this will do any damage to the sail and b) work as a cleaner.

[/ QUOTE ]No, it won't damage the sail, but neither will it clean it. Swimming pools typically have very low concentrations of free chlorine - say 5ppm. This is roughly equivalent to putting 10 or 15 drops of bleach into a big bucket of water - too low a concentration to do a cleaning job.
 
My sails are looked after over winter by a firm of sailmakers in Marmaris. They wash all the sails in their care in a rented hotel swimming pool, but they fill the pool specially for the purpose, and presumably add their chosen cleaning agent.
 
Thanks for the responses. Will wait for some decent weathrfor drying and try it out and see what the results are. May be a good use for a swimming pool in the winter!!!
 
There's no reason for them to emerge from the swimming pool water substantially cleaner than when they go in, only wetter.

I clean mine in a plastic 45 gallon drum. An overnight soak with some washing powder, followed by a hose down to remove the detergent brightens them up nicely.

I suppose you could tip some washing powder into the swimming pool.

Its remarkable what a few gallons of Teepol will do.
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Thnx. The picture reminds me of a trip to Rome. Nice hotel had a jacuzzi bath. Without telling us, 8 year old son decides to add bubble bath to his bath, as he usually does at home. Leaves the bath to fill. 3 to 4 mins later we open the bathroom door to find the whole room head high in bubbles !!! Fantastic.
 
Soaking overnight in a solution of one of the perborate cleaners such as Oxyclean works very well for cleaning sails.
I used to use our wheelie bin - after cleaning it well first
 
Oxalic acid then pressure wash -KEEP washer at sensible distance to prevent damage then wash in swimming pool - wonderful or other way round if owner is fussy.
 
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