Yachting Monthly – May 2018

 T

he start of the season is here. If your boat has lain
neglected through the damp, cold winter, it may
have taken on a tinge of green. Nowhere more so
than on her sprayhood and sail cover is the blight
of mildew and algae to be seen, growing profusely
on the damp and dirty surfaces. It’s time for a spring clean.
When we came to clean the neglected-looking canvas of
a Sadler 32, we discovered a bewildering array of cleaning
products on offer. There are well over half a dozen proprietary
products on the chandler’s shelves, as well as a few everyday
household products that are rumoured to do the trick.
In testing the products, we were looking for cleaning power,
ease of use, and ability to protect against future growth. As
we were playing around with chemicals, safety of use and their
environmental impact was important. Worryingly, some were
marked as ‘extremely hazardous to skin, eyes, and marine life.’
A few products were clear winners, doing what they claimed
within a short space of time. Others are harder to judge, and
the end of the new season will perhaps reveal more of their true
performance. For now, we based our test on the results obtained
on the day.

HOW WE TESTED
The 10ft-long sail cover was removed from the boom for ease.
The algae had grown heavily on the external underside of the
sail cover, and less so on the drier upper sides. We marked out
13 equal stripes across the width of the sail cover and labelled
them, assigning one product to each strip. Given the hazardous
nature of some of these chemicals, we wore waterproofs, wellies
and gloves, and spread a plastic sheet under the sail cover to stop
leakage into the sea.
We then followed the instructions on the packaging as closely
as possible, taking care to avoid contaminating adjacent sections.
Where scrubbing was prescribed, this was done for two minutes.
We then hung up the cover to dry and compared before-and-
after photos to establish which had produced the best results.
Of the 13 spaces, three were control sections using common
household products: non-biological washing powder, washing-
up liquid and plain water.

EUROMECI YACHTLINE

MUFFA NET

The instructions for Muffa Net,

having been translated, were

vague. Despite warnings of ‘extreme

danger to eyes, skin and marine

life’, the solution was to be sprayed

straight from the bottle to saturate

the fabric before leaving it to soak

and then rinsing. We disliked the

idea of the bleach-based solution

becoming airborne and getting

into lungs and eyes, so proceeded

with caution. It removed a fair

amount of dirt, though some

scrubbing was required to lift the

dirt off the canvas. This was the

strongest bleach solution we tested.

RENOVO BOAT

CANVAS CLEANER

SPECIFICATIONS

750ml

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS

Sodium hypochlorite,

active Cl. <5%

USE Spray on

SPECIFICATIONS

500ml

ACTIVE INGREDIENT

Non-ionic surfactant

USE Brush on

After a quick brush off, the fabric

was dampened with water before

the neat Renovo Boat Canvas

Cleaner was ‘painted’ on to the

fabric using a brush. We left the

solution for 45 minutes before

giving it a scrub and rinse. It was

a slightly more involved process

than some of the other cleaners,

requiring a few more stages.

Results were reasonable but

seemed more reliant on the

scrubbing we’d done, as dirt was

still visible where the grooves in the

pontoon had prevented the fabric

from being properly scrubbed.

GROUP TEST

This was the strongest

bleach solution on test

Dirt was left where the tread

pattern of the pontoon

prevented a thorough scrub

£9.95

£13.25

Before you start cleaning,

get all that you need to

do the job thoroughly

The Muffa Net

removed a fair

amount of dirt

Worked well, but required

more work from the user