Mould on sail

[saltyrob]

Hi,

I have been advised that a weak solution of bleach or Detol can be used to remove green mould from a standard non hi tech cruising sail. Can you advise on the dilution.Also are there any alternatives which will be gentle on sail material and not involve bleach, which I always think of as harmful stuff, having spilt some on me olde blue jeans,well they used to be new, then again blue,then again clean.

Many thanks,

Rob

 

[Seajet]

I've found 'Milton' a mild alternative to bleach.

The bad news is, once mildew or other fungus stains a white sail, nothing I've heard of will enable a complete recovery, cosmetically.

 

[VicS]

Take care.
Chlorine based bleaches are not recommended for Terylene , Dacron or any similar polyester fabrics.
They can damage the fabric and turn it permanently yellow

If it's a decent sail a professional clean may well be worth while

 

[salinia]

This is what our sails looked like before we gave them a good soaking with water then a liberal spraying with HG Mould spray then after 40 minutes another good washing off with a hose they came up whiter than white and we were really pleased with our efforts. That was last October when we aquired the boat, we have noticed no detriment throughout the summer season to the sails, and we now have them stored away for the winter. Are yours as bad as these were?

 

[VicS]

HG Mould spray is in fact hypochlorite based.

It is fairly dilute. You have been lucky!

There was recently a question on here from someone who had turned a sail yellow as result of using a chlorine bleach!
I guess he over did it but it is a documented result of using chlorine bleach on polyester

 

[salinia]

HG Mould spray is in fact hypochlorite based.

It is fairly dilute. You have been lucky!

There was recently a question on here from someone who had turned a sail yellow as result of using a chlorine bleach!
I guess he over did it but it is a documented result of using chlorine bleach on polyester

We probably were lucky but it was a case of he who dares situation at the time, we made sure after treatment that we washed and rinsed and rinsed again, but we really were pleased with the result. We tried it out first on the cockpit sheet bags for want of a better name which were covered in green mould.

 

[Even Chance]

It was me!!!!!!

Pressure wash it off with the sail on the ground (clean concrete)

Dont use bleach. Ive used it and it turned my sail yellow. Mega mistake cos it stayed yellow and nothing would take it out. I had to make a new sail to replace it cos it was on a 1938 classic sailing dinghy. Didnt look good yellow!!

 

[satsuma]

Hi,

I have been advised that a weak solution of bleach or Detol can be used to remove green mould from a standard non hi tech cruising sail. Can you advise on the dilution.Also are there any alternatives which will be gentle on sail material and not involve bleach, which I always think of as harmful stuff, having spilt some on me olde blue jeans,well they used to be new, then again blue,then again clean.

Many thanks,

Rob

Do not use bleach!
Use Oxalic acid!