Cleaning sails.

[Graham_Wright]

Prior to unstepping our mast and moving inside to dry out, (and antifoul), we have removed our sails.

The main has been tucked away inside the mast and is sparkling white. The Genoa isn't. Mr Kemp supplied a hoist up cover for it but, in the wind, it made an horrendous noise and disturbed the neighbours.

Consequently it is grubby with green stains.

Best recommended method of cleaning please. We have a large plastic sheet we can spread on the lawn.

 

[bigwow]

wet n forget worked for me. On the subject of the sock, I quietened mine down by winding the spinny halliard round it.

 

[neil_s]

Your local sailmaker will help you out. Let them wash and service it - it will come back looking so much better and be ready for several seasons use - maybe 3 or 4, you don't need to have it done every year.

 

[Stemar]

Your local sailmaker will help you out. Let them wash and service it - it will come back looking so much better and be ready for several seasons use - maybe 3 or 4, you don't need to have it done every year.

That's what I did. My efforts to clean it on the lawn only ended up with mud on the sail. One big advantage, is that the sail came back dry and ready to go in the loft.

It's a very special SWMBO who will let you spread a sail across the living room for several days without a severe loss of nookie points

 

[greeny]

Every spring I put up a large-ish swimming pool in the garden for the summer. Each autumn before emptying it, the sails get a good soak and wash in it. I make sure the chlorine level is low before washing them but a small amount of chlorine seems to inhibit any mould growth whilst stored for the winter. I do make sure they're fully dry before putting them away though. Living in Portugal helps with that.

 

[Ink]

Your local sailmaker will help you out. Let them wash and service it - it will come back looking so much better and be ready for several seasons use - maybe 3 or 4, you don't need to have it done every year.

The washing process will also remove the filler in the sail.

Ink

 

[MoodySabre]

I clean mine on a plastic tarpaulin in the garden. Give a scrub with some washing liquid and hose it off ( not a jet wash). I try not to get the whole thing laundered too often as it reduces its life. Once every three or four years or if the sacrificial strip or a repair require attention.

 

[NormanS]

Every spring I put up a large-ish swimming pool in the garden for the summer. Each autumn before emptying it, the sails get a good soak and wash in it. I make sure the chlorine level is low before washing them but a small amount of chlorine seems to inhibit any mould growth whilst stored for the winter. I do make sure they're fully dry before putting them away though. Living in Portugal helps with that.

I use my rubber dinghy for that, but my sails are not massive. Realistically, the washing (think trampling grapes) is easy. The drying is more challenging.

 

[thinwater]

I've even cleaned a sail by slowly hoisting it on a calm day (or pointed into the wind) a few feet at a time. Scrub it on the way up, and then a second quick scrub plus rinse on the way down. Quite easy, actually, since the sail is never unbent. No chance of getting dirty from the ground or abusing the resin. Go sailing to dry!

 

[RJJ]

What I did: buy some oxygen bleach off EBay (it's the same as vanish, but cheaper). Chuck your sail, loosely rolled, in a large bath for 48 hours. Drain and rinse.

I was told (by a sail maker) this is what they use. Also that chlorine, and scrubbing, are what damage the sail. Chlorine OK for short time, but risk if you don't fully rinse it off.

If you have heavy staining, best to address those patches in isolation in the summer with a stronger solution of the same. Severe mildew stains may never come out, although will fade in strong sunlight I think. The oxygen bleach bath will kill any spores but will not fully remove stains.

Then how you dry it is up to you, the weather, and available space.

 

[[70521]]

The washing process will also remove the filler in the sail.

Do you have any evidence to support that statement?

 

[thinwater]

Do you have any evidence to support that statement?

I certainly depends on the shop, but there are many anecdotal reports of sails coming back softer and stretched after commercial cleaning. Google it. This was just the 4th hit. Certainly, it can be done safely, but there have also been horror stories. Very likely many of the sails were already tired.

Obviously, specific evidence would require before-after testing and a specific process. You are baiting.

https://www.sailrite.com/PDF/Cleaning Sails and Canvas.pdf

 

[Slowboat35]

As drying-outdoors and calm winded weather has come at last I've just had a go at DIY sail cleaning, having read everything I could find on the subject. The saild weren't particularly dirty nor had much green mould on them but they were noticeably off-white with some brown mould 'liver spots' and a few rust/grease marks I had little hope of shifting.
I was concerned at the possibility of damaging 'coatings' of sailcloth - if such things actually exist - something I've not found a definitive answer to but decided to have a go without what seems to me to be the most likely cause of losing crispness, too much agitation and thus beating-up of the sailcloth. In reality achieving agitation of large sails in a domestic setup is a challenge so I relied on soaking and a careful power-wash rinse.

The setup I decided on was a 180l plastic drum which cost £15 on Gumtree. I was concerned that it should have a lid as I'd imagined tipping it over and over for agitation but full of water it is far far too heavy for that, though a frame might be built to acheive that I suppose.

Washing media came down to "oxy" bleach and bio liquid (for guaranteed solubility) in hot tap water. My local cheap supermarket sells 1Kg tubs of Oxy bleach for £1.99. One tub does a barrel more or less by their published figures, and I reckoned on a third of a bottle of bio liquid.

My sails are quite big, standard cruising terylene by Sanders - Main 275sq/ft, Yankee 300sq/ft (25 and 28 sq/m) andbuth roughly 12 by 3'8m in size.

Although I had bought a barrel with a wide aperture it was still somewhat 'necked' which made stuffing the sails in harder than ideal as I had anticipated, but what I hadn't anticipated was getting the damn things out again, as slippery as eels with washing liquid! You just can't get a grip to pull them out! Next time I'd probably use a wheelie-bin, the shape is ideal for loading, extraction and size and I'm not that convinced on the need for a lid.

I filled the barrel with a hose attached to a tap-adaptor and dissolved the oxy-bleach and bio liquid seperately in a bucket to ensure no 'hot-spots'.
Once the hot water was ⅔ up the barrel, sail in I added the bucketful of cleaning agent and topped up theb barrel. It's a bit more than most hot water systems can manage volume wise but still resuts in a barrel full of hot water. Oxy-bleach label says best not above 40-50 degrees, comfortably bath-hot.

I tried rolling the barrel up and down the patio for a few minutes but I'm not sure it had much effect.

Leave overnight.

Tip barrel over and drain liquid. I don't think grass would like oxy bleach...

Quandrary...lazy option is to simply refill barrel with fresh water , soak, dump and repeat for rinsing, or whether to take active measures to remove dirt first. Who knows? Bleach tub did say if soaking don't rise before washing which might imply dirt comes out easier if the bleach is still present. Again, who knows?
I did one sail each way. There was bugger-all difference between them as far as I coud see.

The big problem you have with this business is how the heck to hang the sail to pressure-wash/hose rinse and dry without getting it dirty on the ground again. If you don't have a really big patio/paved drive or a decent sized garden maybe all this isn't a goer...and the problem of the wind piping up before all is done is also a concern.

I variously used 2 x 4 strongbacks across the indoors side of window apertures with thin rope to clews, a balcony, a tractor and a trailer as anchor points. It is surprising just how big these sails are when stretched out across a garden, and the boat is only a 35 footer!

I already had a hose fitting for the hot tap so fed the pressure washer that way too in the hope of hot water rinsing better. Clearly care has to be taken over how aggressively (not!) you use this useful tool but a bit of firm persuasion seems fine. Did it shift any dirt? I honestly can't say. Only on webbing where green algae remained (the bleach didn't shift it) did I get a visible change, nowhere on the sail elsewhere could I see a difference but it must have shifted a fair bit of grubbiness because at the end the sails do look somewhat brighter and whiter than before.
Or at least, I think they do.

No pressure washer? Garden hose with a squirter attachment is fine. Rinse copiously, washing powder residue is sticky ... I also used a garden oscillating lawn-irrigator on the suspended sails for an hour or so too, that does a good job.

Was it worth it?

Hmm. Snow white pristine sails I do not have. The more obviously grubby bits, odd rust and grease stains remain but my overall feeling is they are overall a fair bit whiter than before. I'm not disappointed but then again I'm not amazed.
It's taken 2 days on and off to do three sails (inc. Stays'l), I spent £12 on 3Kg of Vanish equivalent and bio liquid, half a ton of hot water and a lot of effort. Stringing the wet sails up wthout picking up grass cuttings, mud or worm-casts is a challenge but fun if you like that sort of thing. (rig/unrig as sausages with clew wrapped loosely around and around a tensioned head-to-foot - much easier to manipulate). B & Q cheapo polythene dustsheets are handy for dirt protection too.
(edit...on reflection, a day later and looking at the attached photo of the sail in the barrel there is no doubt at all that the general off-whiteness shown there has been very considerably improved. On reflection and another inspection of the cleaned sails thay are definately very much improved . I reckon it was well worth the effort)

Sailcloth dries very fast in this weather, UV strip slower but as long as it's hung to drain to a low point it doesn't take long. 3-4 hours and its not going to get mouldy if you bring it indoors.

I don't doubt that agitation in a large enough volume of water to remove dirt frm the area would be better but unless you convert a large jacuzzi or have a smooth factory floor to lay out and scrub I don't see how it is possible, my method is clearly not good at removing dirt particles from the sail which must be a goodly part of the idea. If I lived on a coast with clean channel/W coast water I'd first try towing my sails for an hour or so - I bet that would be better.

Anyhoo, hope this ramble is worthwhile, I spent enough time trying it so it seems churlish not to share it!




The cast iron bath was an option for rinsing I did not use in the end, but a viable technique. Various bits of string needed to keep it all off the dirt.



Too much sail in too litle volume to work really well but that's all the options we have. A wheelie bin is an easier shape than a barrel.


The main and Yankee didn't fit the patio which requires even more jiggery-pokery.


The jollop. 1Kg per tub. £1.99 from Roys.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Brilliant idea to use a wheelie bin.

 

[Adios]

On the subject of the sock, I quietened mine down by winding the spinny halliard round it.

Mine came as so and wasn't an issue for noise, pull down at the bottom and kept tight with toggles. Made in Holland though so not sure about getting them here. Seems nearly everyone in the UK uses UV strips instead