Sail Cleaning

[savageseadog]

No problem using Oxalic on Dacron

 

[thinwater]

Can anyone decipher this for UK Dummies? What available products are good for DIY sailing washing?
I thought I might give it a try myself. Would Vanish cause any damage?

I'm sorry, I am a US writer.

Ask your wife about oxygen (AKA not chlorine) bleach. I bet she knows. Or look through SDS sheets for percarbonate. I saw many products on Amazon UK. (edit. Or as noted above, Vanish Oxiaction Powder. Same thing.)

 

[Mikedefieslife]

Hi Folks,

Many thanks for info. Have you any advice regards removing a rust stain. I have some oxalic acid but not sure about using it on sail cloth

Like the idea of using the dingy as a sail washing machine and could add a few grapes and press my own not so vintage plonk at the same time

Cheers

Rob

For rust I used oxalic acid for a time and flushed with plenty of water. It worked a treat, but this was on an old sail that wasn't too concerned about damage. There was no visible damage.

 

[Hydrozoan]

For black stains that were, I believe, hydrocarbon deposits from the washout in rain of ship's emissions from a large docks nearby, I found that home washing with Biotex detergent (a tip I got from this forum) succeeded where a professional launder and Vanish had both failed.

 

[thinwater]

For black stains that were, I believe, hydrocarbon deposits from the washout in rain of ship's emissions from a large docks nearby, I found that home washing with Biotex detergent (a tip I got from this forum) succeeded where a professional launder and Vanish had both failed.

The key to cleaning is knowing what the dirt is. No one answer... unfortunately.

 

[Hydrozoan]

The key to cleaning is knowing what the dirt is. No one answer... unfortunately.

Absolutely - first ask yourself what you are trying to remove! (And as a corollary, when reporting that a particular cleaning agent or approach is successful, say as precisely as you can what sort of 'dirt' it dealt with.)