Cleaning sails

[SeaLady]

Thanks Greg and everyone.

I rang a sail maker to double check.

They have heard of people putting sails in swimming pools sucessfully.
But they say it can deteriorate the stitching.

Their suggestion was warm water detergent and Napisan and lots of elbow grease.

I am getting the sails home from the boat tomorrow and then the project begins.

thanks

Diana

[Sombrero]

Diana, "Sealady". Back in my more energetic days when I sailed a Yachting World Diamond (30 ft four man keelboat) with the fleet at Hobsons Bay Yacht Club, we all met after the Saturday race and put our sails in my friend's pool. The kids swam acting as the agitators and we watched and drank and generally bulldusted. By some miracle our sails would be hanging white and dry in my friend's shed by Friday ready for collection and the next race.
I do put my Top Hat sails in our pool. We use Sodium Hypochlorite as our purifier, it whitens the sails and they have not fallen apart yet. Unfortunately my agitators have grown up and left home, so now I use the pool skimmer.

Regards SOMBRERO H1421 John.S

[SeaLady]

Thanks John.

Current plan is detergent, degreaser, napisan, guerney and then a soak in the pool for a few days.

Kill or cure.

I do not have human agitators available.

[SeaLady]

Sails are now home
I will report on the cleaning progress.

Replaced some vents on board today.
Getting new deck vents with the same screw holes is a challenge.

[SeaLady]

Sails have come up well.

But still have a large dark stain which feels waxy.

So far have tried, truck wash soap, oxalic acid, turps, lemon juice, Sards Wonder Soap, Desolveit, Degreaser, Domestic stain remover for protein and another for oil stains.
And elbow grease.

Any other suggestions?

[Miker]

Diana,

There is an old adage, "if it moves and it shouldn't, use Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD40."

I've used WD40 for quite a lot of stains on clothing, furniture and even cleaning my hands after a greasy session on my bikes. It's fantastic for getting chewy out of your hair, or off your pants if you sat on some.

I see no reason why it wouldn't clean a stain off a sail, if it's of the waxy kind. The other thing that comes to mind is Eucalyptus or Tea Tree oil.

The other thing you could try is using a clean cotton cloth, wetting down the area with water, then using a hot iron CAREFULLY on the cloth to see if it heats the stain and loosens it off enough to soak into the cotton cloth. Be really careful that the sail doesn't get too hot though, so best do it gradually, only holding the iron on the cloth for a few seconds at a time. This works well to get glass stains off timber tables too.

Hope something works! Or, you could just sail around with dirty sails like I do.....

[SeaLady]

Thanks Miker
Will give it a go.

I did have a helper who reckons the stain is Cormorant poo

I guessed bird poo but am not an expert of types of bird poo and its properties.

A wonderful skill to identify bird poo but no help so far to remove it.

The stain is about 1 1/2 foot long by 6 inches so it must have been a bird with serious internal digestive issues.

[SeaLady]

Tried WD40 and Jif, a scubber and elbow grease.

No movement of stain at all.

Unless there is another briliant idea I give up.

[rob.lovelace]

we use this at work in the upholstery dept.

http://www.fgb.com.au/product/bosistos/ ... lyptus-oil

it comes in spray can

[Miker]

Don't give up yet.

Leave the WD40 on to do it's work. Essentially it's made of Coconut oil and alcohol, so shouldn't do any damage.

Same with the Eucalyptus oil, you need to leave it sit, preferably overnight.

Did you try the hot iron? If it's greasy, then it could be that the oil in the stain needs to be really hot to release.

Michael