Every sail experiences natural wear and tear out on the water, but proper maintenance can dramatically extend its lifespan, protect your investment, and ensure your boat performs at its best. Whether you are managing high-performance racing sails or durable cruising canvas, simple preventative care makes all the difference. Follow our comprehensive guide to sail care, cleaning, and storage to keep your wardrobe in peak condition. The following talks specifically of dinghy sails but much of it also apply to larger sailing boat sails (although in practice some may be difficult to apply to larger sails).
1. Preventative Care on the Water & On Shore
The easiest way to care for your sails is to minimize unnecessary damage before it even happens.
- Avoid Prolonged Flapping: Never let your sails “flog” (flap violently) in the wind when ashore or idling. Drop your sails as soon as you head into a berth or hit the beach. Flogging breaks down the fibers, resin, and structural integrity of the cloth rapidly.
- Dedicate an “Everyday” Suit: Why use your new set of racing sails for cruising around with the kids ? If you have invested in a high-performance set of sails use them when necessary. Keep an older, durable set of sails for casual cruising, training, or “pottering about” with family.
- Shield from UV Rays: Ultraviolet light is one of a sail’s worst enemies, causing fibers to become brittle and eventually tear. Ensure to store sails away into their bags or covers. Ensure your mainsail has a dedicated boom cover and your roller-furling headsail features a UV-protective strip.
2. How to Safely Clean Your Sails
Salt and dirt not only ruin a sail’s cosmetic appearance but will also damage the fabric. Salt absorbs atmospheric moisture, meaning a salty sail never fully dries, inviting mildew and mould.
The Fresh Water Rinse
After sailing in saltwater, if possible try to rinse your sails with clean, fresh water. If you lack the space to lay them flat on a pontoon or lawn, a thorough hose-down can still wash away abrasive salt crystals.
Deep Cleaning & Stain Removal
If your sails require a more intensive wash, approach the job carefully:
Use Mild Cleansers: Avoid harsh household detergents. Strong chemicals can strip away the specialized coatings and resins that give the sail cloth its structural stability. Instead, use specialized marine sail cleansers.
Watch the Glue: High-tech sails (like Kevlar or laminate sails) are often bonded with structural glues. Standard laundry detergents can weaken these adhesives, causing the layers to delaminate and fail.
Avoid Dirty Surfaces: When washing or packing your sails on shore, ensure the ground is completely clean, dry, and free of gravel or asphalt grit that can scrape the cloth.
3. Essential Rules for Sail Storage
How you store your sails during the off-season or between weekend trips dictates how long they will last.
Never Store Wet: Storing a damp sail guarantees a breakout of unsightly mold and mildew. Always allow the cloth to dry completely on both sides before packing it away.
Roll, Don’t Fold: Repeatedly folding a sail along the same sharp crease lines creates permanent weaknesses in the fabric. Whenever possible, roll your sails.
The “Pro Tube” Storage Trick: For optimal dinghy sail storage, lay your jib on top of your mainsail and roll them tightly together from the head downward. This creates a sturdy, self-supporting “tube” that resists crushing and ensures you never introduce sharp folds into the cloth.
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Looking after your sails is often a matter of common sense. All sails wear with use but you can minimize this. For example Many sailors continue to use an old set of sails for ‘pottering about’ whilst retaining a new set for racing. Also when you get your dinghy ashore don’t let the sails flap about in the wind, get them down as soon as possible and try to avoid creasing or folding them.
UV light can deteriorate sails. You can minimize this by packing them away at the earliest opportunity.
Cleaning
If you sail in salt water then make sure you wash the sails in fresh water after use. Salt actually holds moisture so the sails never completely dry. If you need to wash sails then avoid using strong detergents as these can degrade the coatings and glue used on some sails. There are some specialised sail cleansers on the market so try to use one of them. Some sails such as those made of kevlar are often glued together and detergents can often weaken this glue eventually causing it to fail.
The best thing to do is try and ensure your sails don’t get dirty in the first place! Try to avoid laying them on the ground if at all possible. Obviously there are times when this has to be done when packing the sails up ready for storage but try and do it on clean dry ground.
Sail Storage
Firstly never store sails wet. Allow them to dry thoroughly. You should roll, not fold, sails. One of the best ways to store sails is to roll the jib up with the main sails to create a nice stiff tube meaning they are stronger and less likely to get crushed. The sails should be rolled from the head which ensures that you never need to crease the sail.
Rolling also ensures that any plastic windows are protected too.