Wash Sails off

I sail on the Great South Bay by Long Island NY. Its salt water. The question is should you wash you sails off after each sail? I also have a sunfish and I always have but that was much easier. I now have a Hobie 16 and it is a much bigger project (bigger sails) to wash them off each time. What does everyone else do?

Thanks
Larry

garden hose ftw.

Swimming Pool even better.

Chlorine from the pool water doesn't have long term impact on sails?

If you leave it in there overnight it might but a quick rinse down wont hurt it.

Remember that there's a certain level of chlorine in your everyday drinking water (which comes out of the garden hose too)

I've been known on occation to walk up the the club's pool in my sailing gear .... including life-jacket, trap harness, and sailing shoes w/ polypro sockets .... and jump in. The kids get a "HOOT" out of it when I do!!!

Why do I do this??? What makes your sailing gear and sail box stink??? Its bacteria!!! There is bacteria in all water ... fresh or salt.

And what kills bacteria???? .... Chlorine!!!!

So Thad's comment/idea is not as far fetched as you would believe. It's actually a great idea and a easy, quick solution ..... I do rinse my sails also in the club's pool, I just wait until everyone is done swimming ...

Now what I need is a pole or tree tall enough w/ a halyard so I can hoist the sails up easily to dry. My last "sail drying tree" was hit by lightning and had to be "taken down".

Harry Murphey
TheMightyHobie18/P19MX

Please note that I just realized that you have dacron sails.

Probably colored.

It might fade over time if you do the pool dipping thing over and over again.

UV exposure is a great way to bleach dacron sails too. Only remedy is not to use them I guess.

Ok so I guess I will find a tall tree and hose them off.

Thanks

Larry

I've got one of those 10'x10' quick up shelters. The framework for that does a nice job holding the sails up when I'm drying them in my garage with a fan blowing over them.

Kent

I never ever washed a sail with sweet water. It wasn't a problem on the dacron sails of my Dart18 and so far it isn't on the pentex/mylar sail on my Javelin. However I am sailing in the baltic sea - low salinity.

Cheers,

Klaus

I used to wash and hang my sails to dry, then I stopped, its too much of a hassle. Unless the club has a hose at the launch ramp, the sails stay salty.

I dont believe that washing sails has any benefit when compared to the effort and time to wash them and hang them dry. I dont wash my sails after each sail and they dont smell or get moldy.

The salt in the salt water keeps mold away. Stretching from a windy day, UV, heat, rolling it up, etc, etc, etc do the most damage to a sail. If you dont dry a sail completely after a fresh water rinse it will get moldy.

So, I believe that rolling it up neatly after each sail without rinsing it is the best way to go.


I do wash off the rest of my gear religously, especially the wetsuits, just not the sail.

Just curious how they dry off the sail after the pool dunk. I have installed a small pulley in a tall tree to pull my sails up to hang dry. But first you have to have a tree tall enough.

Used to I attached a pulley to the top of my chimney but it was not tall enough. So I would pull the bottom of the sail and attach it to a fence close by. This is risky on a breezy day.

I tied the head to one tree and then tied a line to both ends of the boom and used the mainsheet blocks to snug it up. Had it about chest high. Used a soft bristle brush to scrub it. Loosened it a little to flip it. Only the batten tips touched the ground. When it was dry rolled it up and put away. Did this every so often to keep salt from building up on sails.

Doug

i can't wash off my sails without a ton of hassle (carrying them to the pool, and back, then stringing them all over my 3rd floor apt)... i think its wise to do so if you can. (but i rarely do).

One word of caution at the pool ... be careful washing on concrete or pool pavers... they can scratch up the sail/fibers very easily when moving it around.