How do I clean filthy sail?

Modulation

Member
Joined
30 May 2001
Messages
495
Location
finder
Visit site
Irecently bought a boat with a furled jib which had been left up for the last 3 years. You can imagine the state it was in.
I had it washed and valeted by my local sailmaker which imoroved it a bit. However, it's still got a lot of ingrained fine dirt - perticularly along the leech and the foot. I think this is because the boat was laid up very close to a dredging dock.
Anyone got any ideas or know of a miracle cleaning product? I've tried one or two from chandlers - Boatpride, I think - no effect.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Sadly if the sailmaker can't improve it nothing will that won't damage the sail cloth.
The best thing for a sail is slightly soap water and then thourghly washed in fresh water. I've had better results with that than any product an the market.
 

PaulJ

Member
Joined
7 Jul 2001
Messages
695
Location
Ipswich
Visit site
I once had to do a similar job on a filthy sprayhood and used a pressure hose but be warned - it tended to fray any raw edges and I don't know what it would do to the porosity of the fabric...... it got the sprayhood clean though! You could try it on a small area and see how it goes.
 

robp

Active member
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
1,891
Visit site
A poster on here a few months ago said that he soaked his sails overnight in wheelie bin with Biotex. Apparently it was very successful. Be warned about machines though, a Sail Maker told me more recently, "don't launder your sails in a washing machine, it'll knock the stuffing out of them". I guess also that the original quality of sails has some bearing on the matter.
 

steveh

New member
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
214
Location
UK
Visit site
We tried the Biotex method and it worked very well - we also put lemon juice on the stains and left in the sun to bleach Now have nice white sails.
 

bedouin

Well-known member
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
32,241
Visit site
If the problem is mainly in the UV protection strip, as your posting suggests, it is a comparatively easy job for a sailmaker to replace it
 
Top