Anyone use this stuff? Purported to extend the life of the sailcloth... true?

Thanks -

John,

When I went to Glaser Sails' website, I saw that they offer this. I was wondering the same thing. Maybe this should be asked on the Open Forum. There are a lot more people reading that forum than this one.

BTW, good luck at the NAF18 NA's!

I have and do use it. It works great. I helped Jay Glaser put it on the first 505 sails he tried it on. It really makes a difference just after the application you can feel the difference. The question was whether it lasted. We applied it to one of my sails at the same time. I am sure that the application I put on months ago is still good. It brought an old silicone cloth sail back to life for a good while. That has since turned into my practice spinnaker but still slicker than when it initially died.

I believe that you can not longer buy silicone impregnated cloth because of this stuff.

Application:
You apply it on a slightly sunny day. They recommend that you do not do it on a really hot day or on a cloudy or damp day. After mixing the two agents we applied it with a sponge. The spinnakers strung up off the ground. We used gloves...it seemed like a good idea. Do not apply in any place that you will be walking later, it will be like walking on ice, and I do not think it is good for the grass. We applied it over an asphalt surface and put some flattened out boxes underneath for the dripping that may occur. It will go on a bit cloudy looking but clear up when it it dry. Do one side then flip the sail over and do the other before it dries. You only get so much time to get it all on. Seems that it was 45 minutes or so. You will be able to do two spinnakers on that time.

I think the sail kit is about $40 and will do two of our F18 spinnakers. This is good so you can do it with a friend. It is much easier if one is the sponger and the other is the holder and stretcher of the cloth.

Later,
Dan

best stuff ever!!

we use it on the T and the Super Taipan, also on the Farr 40 and Sydney 38.

application can be done as per the instructions... or you can just mix it up in a bucket and dunk the kite in there for a while and swish it around then pull it out and dry. same result in 1/10 of the time.

Sounds like a paint sprayer or even a garden sprayer might do the trick too.

From the Holmenkol web site:

PDF File

It warns you not to vaporize the stuff. They call it Nano Technology so it must be very small particles. I have not idea what they mean by Nano. They are using the same word for the small surgical instruments that are actually molecules with scissors, or some such thing.

I do know that I like the stuff though.

Later,
Dan

I was at the vanguard sailboats factory the other day and when I was being rung out I saw Holmenkol in the glass display under the counter. I asked the guy, who was the sales manager there if he had heard any feedback and that I had heard it worked miracles for spinnakers. He said he didn't know anything about it's use on sails but he'd had numerous customers rave about how amazing it was on their hulls.
Anyone here used it on their hulls yet?
-Todd Riccardi

its a different product for the hulls. its called Aqua speed + glide

Hrm, I'm having a hard time finding a place to string out the spin since people said its not good for the grass, and I don't want my garage floor or driveway becoming an ice rink. Does the dunk method work just as well? I'd much rather use that method than the sponge method.

Macca?

Just used it on the new F18 kite. Goodall buys non-impregnated cloth and applies the stuff to all his kites.

We had our kite painted after purchase, so we applied the stuff bu mixing it in a bucket of water and dunking the kite. Swished it around for a while, retrieved it into the sock and then hoist it. This way the sock and kite gets a coat.

When you hoist it, face the boat dead downwind so as not to have any of the mixture drip onto the boat...... Can make the tramp and decks a wee slippery.

You can find all the cardboard boxes you can find, open them up, and spread them over the floor first. It is not a really messy job. You will probably not soak through the cardboard. It did not even come close to that. It has not gone through the fibers of the spinnaker to drip when I have sponged it on. It will make an ice rink of your floor if you get it on there though.

Dan

What is wrong with this web page:
http://www.holmenkol.de/hst/index.php?sport=aquatic&rub=rumpf

"High Performance coating for all water sports equipment like yachts, catamarans, jolly boats, water skis, wakeboard, motorboats, jet skis, canadians, etc."

What, are Canadians not slippery enough?

I have noticed that you do have to watch them.. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />