Sail - July 2018

JULY 2018

DON CASEY HAS WRITTEN MANY

BOOKS AND ARTICLES ON MARINE

MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS

NIGEL CALDER IS AN AUTHOR AND

EXPERT ON BOAT SYSTEMS AND

DIESEL ENGINES

BRIAN HANCOCK IS A SAILMAKER,

WHITBREAD RACE VETERAN AND

CREATOR OF GREATCIRCLESAILS.COM

GORDON WEST IS AN ELECTRONICS

EXPERT WHO SPECIALIZES IN RADIO

COMMUNICATIONS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF

BENETEAU USA

(LEFT); OF

TORQEEDO

(FACING PAGE)

A DOWNSIDE TO CLEAN SAILS?

Q: Is it benei cial to wash your sails each year? It appears to me that

washing your sails can only weaken the sail fabric, just like washing your

clothes does. Also, I would like to know how sails are laundered. I just

can’t envision them going into a washer and dryer.

— Paul Amundson, Oyster Bay, NY

BRIAN HANCOCK REPLIES

It depends on how you go about washing your sails. Usually

the sail is laid out on some flat surface and a mild detergent

is used to scrub the dirty spots. If you have a hard bristle brush and

really get at it hard, then for sure you are going to weaken the fabric

over time. If, however, you scrub gently with a soft brush, there will

be no damage and doing this every year will not be a problem. Sails

should never be put into a washing machine. However, for problem

sails/stains, I suggest that you spot clean them first by treating the

most soiled areas first and allowing the detergent to sit on the fabric

and “soak.” Over time and without too much effort, you should be

able to get your sails back to looking as good as new. If you have

mildew you can treat it by dissolving a half cup of Borax in two cups

of hot water and rubbing it into the affected areas. Make sure that you

rinse the sail thoroughly after doing this. You can also use the same

solution to treat stubborn stains on the rest of the sail.

HOW MUCH ANTIFOULING?

Q: I apply VC 17 to the bottom of my sailboat every year. Could I skip

a year or two between coats? h e hull always seems to be full of slime at

the end of the year anyway.

— Ron Buschman, via [email protected]

DON CASEY REPLIES

Copper-based paints do not prevent slime, but slime comes

off easily. Not so much with hard fouling, like zebra mus-

sels. So the definitive answer to your question depends on where

you do your sailing. If unprotected boats there have hard fouling

but you have only slime, the VC 17 is working for you. Odds are if

you skip a year, your boat will suffer hard fouling—a poor trade.

Since a VC 17 coat is so thin—around an eighth the thickness of a

BOAT WORKS ASK SAIL

There’s zero

downside to having

nice, clean sails