About sails...a poll?

Hi all and Happy New Year!

I recently took my older sails to North Sails in Richmond, BC to have them checked. My mainsail was built by Hood Sails in 2001 for the previous owner for use in San Francisco Bay, so it is a fairly heavy sail. My 125% genoa was also built by Hood Sails in 2005. Both are Dacron cruising sails. Being retired and living on Vancouver Island, I sail a lot year round so the sails get a lot of use.

I had anticipated that at their age and with a lot of use, there might be extensive UV damage to the sail threads and a number of seams being close to needing re-stitching. To my surprise, the Manager of Sail Care said that both sails looked better than most that they see for repair. He added some minor reinforcement in a couple of areas like batten pockets, re-stitched a bit, recut the headsail a bit, and said that both sails should still last a long time. With the cost of new sails, that was a great Christmas present!

Both sails are slightly soiled, so I asked him if they should be cleaned. He said that they do provide a cleaning service, but said that unless they are really soiled, it is usually better for sails not to clean them, just hose them down periodically to get rid of salt. He also added that laminate sails are more prone to mildew than Dacron because the sails don't "breathe" as well.

I would be interested in how the age and condition of my sails compares to other Ericson owners--if I knew how to start a poll on this I would do so.

I would welcome any comments from others on their sails, maintenance of their sails, etc.

Frank

Great news Frank and a nice gift for you!

Our sails are new last year so I can't help there. I have been thinking about cleaning my main but will just hose it down.

Sails

Mine are about the same age-maybe a little older. They aren't in too bad of shape other than my main being a little dirty and my head sail needed some stitching repairs on the blue cover. I would like new sails but I have many other things to do first. On my Ranger 22, I got a new main from National Sails. I probably wouldn't have won any races with it, but for the price, it was a good sail.

Geoff

I replaced the original sails on my 1978 E29 in 2008, Don't know how much they were used before I got the boat. The bolt rope in the main had shrank 6" on the luff and 4" on the foot I repaired that and they are still in use on a friends hunter. Keeping up with any sail repair early is the key and using the proper sail for conditions to keep stretch to a minimum.

I don't expect to get 30 years out of my new sails though. My race boat sails will probably last five seasons if lucky.

When I was boat shopping in late '12, I promised myself new sails for any boat I looked at. Some sails I saw looked pretty good, the best of them probably ten years old. Such sails are quite serviceable. They are also blown out. New sails are unquestionably the greatest gift to performance.

It is also quite horrible to flake a new mainsail, and commence to destroy it before your eyes by your own hand. The best you can do is be gentle, hose off dirt and salt, and not haul down on the ties too hard. Hosing is important on roller furled sails, too, since dirt is what makes mildew. Even here in dry SoCal a new genoa can develop spots within a year. The J Boats and others let the main off the track, so it lies in flat folds over the boom. I might introduce that system on my boat. The big racers at my club, Pendragon and the others, take off their enormous mainsails between races. All it takes is a crew and a truck, ho ho.

So to me an older, serviceable sail is actually sort of a relief. I never have them cleaned by sailmakers (others swear by it). My stains usually don't come out no matter what.

I once spent the day with Hal Roth, the world cruiser, helping him bend on his new sails. They were of the thickest Dacron I ever saw, and cut absolutely flat, with no battens. We hoisted the new main and it just hung from the mast like a piece of plywood, no camber, no roach.

He smiled at me because he knew what I was thinking.

"I want them to last," he said. "When the wind blows, anything works fine."

I'm loving these varied responses--please keep them coming!
Frank

I've been cleaning my sails with Oxy-clean, and soaked awhile they come out nicely. It won't get the bullet holes out, but cleaner nonetheless. I asked the sail care dudes here in town what they use, (shop talk, he knows I'm not about to go in the sail cleaning business, and he's not about to start tinkering diesels), he said Oxyclean. That made me feel pretty good, I had wondered my 'wisdom' on doing this.

Hi CLP,

Thanks for this information. Did you soak them in a bin or some similar container, or use oxyclean to scrub them or how did you do this? How long did you soak them, and in what concentration. Any details you can provide would be helpful.

I have some slight grey mould spots in a few areas, some grey/light brown discoloration in lines across the mainsail where they are flaked, and some small rust, blood and other stains. Is this similar to the kind of stains you had?

Frank

Yeah, I tried laying the old (40 y/o) main out on the lawn and scrubbing it with oxyclean and a stiff brush. It got... some of the crepe out of it. But not the cat piss. And some of the wasp nest stain just wouldn't come out. Then I tried beating it with a cat. (Don't leave the sails unattended on the garage floor.)

At that point, new sails were the only option. OMG. It was like getting a new boat.

Hey, if anybody is really desperate, I've got an authentic oxycleaned 1970 mainsail with a funky zipper in the belly at a very attractive price.

I have no idea the age of my sails, but I suspect like most everything else on the boat the main could be original. The jib is definitely newer. Main = Hood; Jib = Rolly Tasker. I took the main to Ullman in Ventura a few years ago and had a couple of tiny cuts patched. Got basically the same response; sail was in good shape for its age. They also did not recommend "professional cleaning", saying it might do more damage than good. I tried Oxi-Clean with no success. I think that stuff is all hype...