Sail Storage

[ChuckieTodd]

Does anyone actually fold their sails like Doyle recommends? How in the world do you do that on a boat?

[mastreb]

Nope.

[rwmiller56]

I fold my mainsail when I put the boat in dry storage for the winter. I lay the sail on the ground and fold it, either in the parking lot, or I take it home and do it.

Roger

[kitcat]

I roll my mainsail and tie it onto the boom, then put the sail cover over it, but I don't have a fancy lazy jack system [yet ] though I'm hoping to remedy that over next winter. Rolling the mainsail whilst it's still on the boom is a real chore

When the sails are off the boat, I fold them loosely, then stuff 'em into the sail bag and put it all into the loft.

[pokerrick1]

YEP!! I had a slip neighbor in MDR (Dr. Tom Howard, retired dentist), that had a Mac 22 and he took his sails off and folded them on he dock and put them away in their bags every time he took the boat out!!!! As a result, his 15 year old sails looked a LOT better (52X better) than my year old sails on my M

Rick

[Russ]

It can be done onboard but who wants to do that.

I'll fold 'em on the front lawn at the end of the season (if the lawn is dry and not just mowed).

[Ixneigh]

No i roll up the sail on the boom and cover it. The jib gets lashed to the pulpit or bagged. Last boat i had i painted the sails and didnt even cover them. That experiments still running. If you have two people its easy to fold the sails on the boat. Mandatory if the other person is a pretty girl.

[Catigale]

The factory stock sails suck pretty bad....not to say you should abuse them but one day sailing overpowered will blow them out. My main has lasted since 2002 but isnt in great shape, literally. Would love to add the KH 2000 main this summer.

[rwmiller56]

The factory stock sails suck pretty bad....not to say you should abuse them but one day sailing overpowered will blow them out. My main has lasted since 2002 but isnt in great shape, literally. Would love to add the KH 2000 main this summer.

Cat,
I just added the KH C2000, and it is nice! Slugs, and 2 reef points.

Roger

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

I have the original Main, and this is on a 1999 X. The sail is crisp, and appears to be in fine shape (we're only fair weather sailors), and this Main is always kept in the Factory Bag, folded, and stuck into the Head compartment, when stored.
It has never been cleaned, and has no spots, mildew, rips, etc. Amazing it has shown such durability. Taking good care of sails make 'em last a long time.

[ronacarme]

My 2001 X main and jib are still sound, as are 1990 drifter and 1985 storm jib retained from earlier boats. Main folded in the fall only. Headsails simply stuffed in their bags after each use. In Michigan. Folding sails on the same fold lines after each use may fatigue the cloth at the fold?
Ron

[Judy B]

My 2001 X main and jib are still sound, as are 1990 drifter and 1985 storm jib retained from earlier boats. Main folded in the fall only. Headsails simply stuffed in their bags after each use. In Michigan. Folding sails on the same fold lines after each use may fatigue the cloth at the fold?
Ron

Dacron thread has extremely good resistance to flex. Folding it in the same place won't weaken the threads appreciably. It takes tens of thousands of cycles to break high tenancity dacron polyester. Flogging a sail while motorsailing will break dacron threads, but folding won't.

However, the resin coating on the cloth, which stabilizes diagonal stretch (bias stretch), breaks down easily when folded. So if you stuff your sails into a jib bag, you are breaking down the resin in a thousand different places. The sail gets a lot more stretchy.

Note that I said stuffing the sail and breaking the resin in a thousand places makes the sailcloth stretchy. Folding it neatly in just a few places doesn't significantly reduce the cloth's ability to hold its shape.

Once the resin on a woven dacron sail has broken down, the threads start to move around relative to each other a lot more easily. At that point, the cloth isn't able to do it's job much better than a bedsheet. The result: the boat heels more, won't point, and handles badly. The wrinkled sail won't rip because the individual dacron threads are still strong but the boat will sail like a pig.

Here are my tips for basic sail care:

1)For a good woven dacron cruising cloth, the best way to take care of it is to fold it, rather than stuff it.
2) UV and flogging are the two things that kill dacron sails the fastest. Use your mainsail cover! Don't flog your sails. UV weakens threads and cause rips in the cloth.
3) Keep the sails clean. Salt crystals and dirt are abrasive. Rinse and dry them periodically.
4) Prevent mold and mildew by drying your sails before putting them away. Remove dirt with a gentle non-detergent soap and a very soft brush, and rinse well, and dry. Remove mildew with 5:1 or 10:1 mixture of household bleach (1% solution sodium hypochloride or weaker), set 10 minutes max, rinse thoroughly, dry. ( Don't soak your sails overnight in a swimming pool)
5) Never, never, never! put your sails in a washing machine. It breaks down the resin coating completely.
6) Don't waste your money having baggy sails recoated with resin. It will do nothing to get rid of the baggy shape.

I hope this clarifies,

Judy B

[Catigale]

Im not sure the sails supplied by the factory are Dacron (tm) - where the (tm) is conciously added.