mice, sails, stains

saltyanchor

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Hi, I went to look at another boat today, (condor catamaran) and when the sails were pulled out, one of the mainsails has a mouse nest in the rolled up sail. The stink was awful, the sail had a brown urine stain throughout.
I do not like rats or mice, but, would you chuck the sail, or disinfect? Bleach too strong?
What do you think?
Sail was reasonable otherwise, not brilliant, but reasonable, then again the clew might have been chewed, but I wasn't getting too close.
Thanks
 

fireball

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I've had a spinny chewed through - dumped it ... too many small holes and too old to make it worth fixing ... otherwise, it is a case of a good scrub and wash off...
 

bobgosling

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Warning : Rodent urine is a carrier for a nasty disease called Weil's Disease. Ensure you wear rubber gloves and keep kids away when cleaning it. Use a biocide cleaner ( Milton's Fluid ? ). If you get Flu-like symptoms after exposure to it see a doctor and tell them about the risk.
 

Evadne

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If its not been chewed too much then washing while laid out flat with soapy water, followed by something like "daz", ideally left on for a bit then washed off will help.

A different problem I know, but our main got stained with engine oil, and we tried everything. We washed it twice, once in the cockpit and once in the bath but the only way the smell went away in the end was when we forked out to have them professionally washed by a sailmaker, which also removed a lot of the stain. The main difference between them and me is the size of the washing machine. I think it was about £30 for wash and valet, but it was also a few years ago.
 

Evadne

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Good warning, though I thought it was mainly rats to watch out for ( link ). An acquaintance died of this after catching it on a fishing trip in the West country some years ago. He was on a lake and got a hole in his finger from a hook. Fresh water only dilutes it, but it doesn't survive in salt water.
 

Lakesailor

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I used to have a drain cleaning business and can confirm that it is rats that carry Weil's Disease. Other rodents are cute and cuddly.
Except of course if guests bring their hamsters (Yes, it has happened)
 

Ships_Cat

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Actually bleach is quite ok on polyester sail cloth in the concentrations recommended for clothes and Dacron is DuPont's trade name for polyester, so Dacron is ok too. Polyester is used mixed with other fibres in clothes and one of its advantages in that application is, in fact, its good resistance to bleach and it certainly does not "dissolve".

However, bleach should not be used on sail cloths which are not polyester, including nylon.

John
 

saltyanchor

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Nylon

Thanks Kingfisher and Ships_Cat.
How does one tell whether or not sail is nylon by feel and look?
It is made by dolphin sails of Harwich, Essex, and it is what I call that CRISP type of material, stiff and crunchy and plasticy (have I answered my own question there with "plastic" and "nylon"?) - not a soft material (as is the other mainsail, made by T Heard)
Thanks again.
 

Ships_Cat

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Re: Nylon

If the boat you mention is the Condor dinghy sized catamaran which I am not familiar with, then I would not like to say what the sail is made from.

One would not expect that the mainsail would be nylon, so that can be written off as the material, but if it looks like a simple woven cloth with filler in the weave then it is likely to be polyester (Dacron) - from your description it would appear that the old sail may be polyester and the newer one something else.

If it is obviously not polyester, any experienced dinghy sailor should be able to confirm that even if they cannot tell you what it is.

If you look at http://www.northsailsod.com/faqs/faq-general.html and scroll down to the question on mildew, you will see that bleach is safe on most sail materials, even if left soaking for very long periods, except for aramids and nylon - it briefly mentions how to identify those materials.

John
 

Ships_Cat

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Re: Thanks for that - nm

As I say, I am not familiar with the particular class of catamaran. Maybe they are an old pottering around type boat and the sail therefore certainly of the cheapest construction eg polyester. But if not, aramids and other exotics are widely used in dinghy sails (well at least where I come from /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif) and care should be taken.

John
 
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