Sail cleaning on the boat?

[Oldshipwright]

Just wondering if anyone has washed their sails on the boat as in still bent.

I have a Nonsuch 30 which has a rather large sail for getting in the bathtub or the driveway so I have been thinking about scrubbing a few feet at a time, rinsing, raising, and scrubbing a few more feet, .... repeat, repeat, .... dry.
Alternatively, soaping and scrubbing but not rinsing until all done, then lowering the sail and giving a really good rinse / raise / dry.
Obviously to be done on a calm cool morning.
My sail isn’t really grubby but has some dirty areas that stand out.

Any thoughts?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Oldshipwright

Just wondering if anyone has washed their sails on the boat as in still bent.

I have a Nonsuch 30 which has a rather large sail for getting in the bathtub or the driveway so I have been thinking about scrubbing a few feet at a time, rinsing, raising, and scrubbing a few more feet, .... repeat, repeat, .... dry.
Alternatively, soaping and scrubbing but not rinsing until all done, then lowering the sail and giving a really good rinse / raise / dry.
Obviously to be done on a calm cool morning.
My sail isn’t really grubby but has some dirty areas that stand out.

Any thoughts?

I've done spot cleaning that way. Birds under the cover and such.


A long handled scrub brush helps. First you will scrub off the dirt with something like a weak borax/TPS solution, keeping it wet and letting it soak. Then remove stains with Oxiclean; same thing, weak solution, keep it wet for hours. Anything that works faster, like bleach, will damage the sail.



It's still going to take a long time. A gray day with slow drying conditions is what you want. A garden sprayer might help.