Cleaning laminate sails

[Guest]

Is there any chemical I shouldn't use to clean cruising laminate sails. Sail has been furled for about a year in the tropics and as well as the usual mildew and mould expected there is a really strange orange stain in many areas that seems to be right inside the laminate.

[wheels 543]

Do NOT bleach with Chlorine. It rots the sail thread.

There is a specific powder that sailmakers use that works by oxygen bleaching, which is how Napisan and Oxyaction works and is where Persil got it's name, because it basicaly produces a weak form of peroxide, which is oxygen rich. So any of them could be worth a try if you can not get the proper stuff. What you do is lay the sail out, wet it down and then sprinkle the powder over it and brush it evenly around with a broom and then roll the wet sail up and leave it 12 to 24hrs. Then roll iut out and rinse it down.

[wal 27]

Scrub it with napisan (or soak it if you've got a tub big enuf) stiff brush, soft waterblast then wet n forget before you stick it back up.

 

Doyles can do it for you, do it all the time

[Fogg 427]

I was told that strange orange colour sometimes comes from pollen clouds blowing past which accumulates in the sail and get damp...

[Guest]

That could well be it AC, pretty lush growth where the boat is moored. Thanks for the other cleaning advice, will attack this coming week. (if we can find napisan or something similar up here)