Best Technique to clean sails

[downwinder]

I was wondering what is the best way to clean sails without damaging them. After many weeks of sailing the main gets pretty dirty after all the folding.

[barnakiel]

There is a special machine for this. Ask your sailmaker.

b.

[roverhi]

I just spread the sail out on the grass, mix up a bucket of oxyclean and scrub with a soft deck brush. Gets surface grime off and they look a lot better but is not a deep cleaning. There are places that specialize in cleaning sails but don't know how they do it, machine, scrub, chemicals or what.

[sapient sue]

Our sailmaker suggested pure soap and a soft brush with plenty of rinsing water.

If the sails are deeply ingrained with mould then you may wish to go for the chemical clean organised by most sail lofts but it is a very expensive process.

Sue

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by sapient sue

Our sailmaker suggested pure soap and a soft brush with plenty of rinsing water.

If the sails are deeply ingrained with mould then you may wish to go for the chemical clean organised by most sail lofts but it is a very expensive process.

Sue

A neutral detergent, light brushing, and lots of rinsing water is perfect for surface dirt and low level stains.

For messy stains that didn't respond to that, I've used the services of Vacuwash Australia (Sail Cleaning and Protection TechnologyVacuwash Australia - Home). As the name suggests, Vacuwash uses a vacuum wash process followed by applying SailKote.

Cost money, but not what I call very expensive.

I was very happy with the personal service (including advice on shipping to and from Vacuwash), and the result.

Vacuwash started in the US and still operates there.

Al

[Jon Phillips]

I second Oxyclean for serious staining. We've mixed a mild solution of it in a 55 gallon drum and let the sail soak for a couple hours. Then lay it out and get scrub it with a soft brush. Rinse well.