clews and jib clips

[sasailor]

Hi Guys - hope the silly season is treating you well. More stupid questions - due to the fact that I have always been pretty pedantic about washing sails I have never experienced this before - I now own the yacht but cannot sail her due to the fact that amongst other things all the clews are heavily coroded (Salt buildup - know how to deal with it - warm water apparently does the trick) What has me beat is the pretty blue copper sulfide that has built up on the clips that attache the foresails to the stays. A number of them are corroded shut - I have spoken to my sailmaker and the quote had me grabbing my oxygen bottle and demanding to be nebulised. Any suggestions or what I can use that wont stain or weaken the sail cloth?
Suggestiojns most appreciated.

Tel +2731 267 0646
Cell +278234 22 33 6
Durban South Africa

 

[castaway]

Hi Juan

Washing sails is a good investment and apart from getting a huge amount of dirt out should stop things like the piston hanks seizing up and certainly prolongs their life. I dump them in a bath once a year with some biological washing powder. let em soak for a while then rinse a few times and spread out to dry out side.

Re the piston hanks,, if they really are seized take them off and soak in penetrating oil that should free them .. I,ve also found that getting them really really hot in a pan of oil appears to saturate the surface with lubricant (although Im not sure about the science here)

Regds Nick

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather>http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather</A>

 

[chippie]

I had this problem with the piston hanks on my jibs and found that after washing the verdigris off , I squirted WD40 into them and with a bit of moving back and forth got most of them working again. The ones that were past it I replaced with some bought from a chandler. They had a tang that was bent shut after insertion through the sail. A word of warning here : I broke the tangs on a couple of the new ones by bending them with pliers, it's probably better to gently hammer them back into place.
Good luck with your efforts.

 

[Johnjo]

When I had hanked on sails, sprayed the hanks with a silicon spray,
do not know if this is the correct way to go about it, worked for me!
do not get oily drips on the sail with this,dries on contact.
best of luck,
mike

 

[sasailor]

Thanks for all the advice folks - will try it all and let you know what worked - the previous owners did not believe in preventative maintenance - it's gonna be a long hot and bothered summer methinks.

Tel +2731 267 0646
Cell +278234 22 33 6
Durban South Africa