What are the best handling methods to preserve them?

Dont use them.

Roll laminate,
flake dacron

try to avoid creases

try to keep from UV

try to keep dry

rinse them with some frequency - salt crystals are just as scratchy to the sails as they are to your skin

this has been asked before so a search may bring up better detail

"try to avoid creases"

Just checking. I think the worst I do is drop them unceremoniously on the tramp at the end of the day.

Roll your mainsail from the top down (better for the luff).

But that means unrolling it on the tramp before you hoist and re-rolling it after you lower it, all of which puts more creases into it. i prefere to roll from the bottom as i hoist and drop - no creases!

Also if you have a halyard-less mainsail, rolling from the foot puts less roll in the head of the sail making it hook easier when pushing it up.

I roll from the top because rolling from the bottom would mean that the clear window would be more tightly wound and therefore more prone to problems.

Don't know if it actually helps, but made me feel better?

We rolled our main (and jib) around a piece of thin-wall, PVC, drain pipe. 4" dia. for the main, 2" for the jib.

Prevents "crushing" the sail...if someone falls in to your toybox

and we roll bottoms up

Always rolled from the first batten and up, never noticed any problems with the luff. Sails dont last that long anyway

If going upwind with loads of downhaul on, release the downhaul before sheeting out when rounding the top mark.
Dont let the sails flog.

My observation is that it depends on the sail cut on which way you roll it up.

For example: a H16 mainsail rolls best from the bottom up ... a TheMightyHobie18 from the top/head down .... P19MX from the top down.

and yes, I have to unroll both my TheMightyHobie18 and P19MX mainsails before hoisting them up the stick ...

So try rolling your mainsail both ways and verify which direction works best to keep the battens straight and flat, no creases, neatest finished package that fits best into your storage box.

I've seen the PVC trick ... I use it w/ my jib and then place that package inside my mainsail as I roll the main up. It makes a nice neat package in the sailbag, easy to carry, and to get up into my sail storage area in my garage loft

HarryMurphey

A lot of the Hobie Wave sails have the bottom batten angled down from a few feet up the mast to down and aft to the clew. This was a innovation by Randy Smyth, knowing the Wave had no traveler and no vang to keep the clew down.
It made rolling a bit cumbersome.
However, we discovered that by grabbing the lower batten at the luff and rolling, the sail rolled up really nice.
The angled top batten for the square-head could either be pulled out, or folded over to put in a bag.
Rick

If you roll from the bottom to the top you will trap any moisture that you may have on the bottom few panels inside the roll. Rolling from the top keeps the bottom panels on the outside of the roll which gives them a better chance of drying.

Putting the top batten on a sq. top main into the second batten pocket is always a good way to 1. not loose it, and 2. make rolling it from either way much easier.

I know everyone knows this, no-one posted it yet, since we were talking about rolling.

The way to deal with the top batten is also to roll from the foot, and then put the whole package into the trailer box. Works well enough if you sail two or three times a week. For prolonged storage, all battens need to be removed from the sail anyway,

I hang up my sails if they aren't going to be used for a while, or if they were put away wet, I like to hang them up in the basement so they are completly dry.

I roll from the bottom up, and still have to pull the top batten. Even removing the 2nd from the top would be nice to get a tighter package.

Its kinda nice having a unfinished basement. I almost don't want to finish it, its nice having a safe, warm, and dry spot for the boat in the winter. Tough to see in the pic, but the main is just behind the spin hanging away from the wall.

Karl,

Thousands of years from now, Archeologists are going to dig up your basement with a camera crew and one of Geraldo's ancestors and find find your boat. Perfectly intact like you left it. Then spend millions doing research on it to find out how the "mummification" process works. Then another program will show it as an "Alien Artifact". They'll be saying there's now way ancient man could have had this technology while your laptop will be in a box in the other room which is never discovered.

As I recall you live in Minn. Must be tough keeping anything warm up there.
When I did my videos of the seminars, Tim Johnson was the Producer and lives in St Paul. So, I had to spend a week there editing with him.
Never saw the sun and temps were never above 0 the entire time. When flying back, the plane broke through the clouds and Lordy Me.., there it was -- THE SUN!
Rick

Why people choose to live where its cold is beyond me.

Its 46F here right now and I want to kill myself just get to somewhere warmer :P

Supposed to get down to 30 degrees in Miami tonight. I am thinking about moving to Florida.., Oh Wait! I am in Florida.


Rick