Reconditioning Sails

Does anyone know anything about reconditioning and older sail...Is it something any sail loft can do or something only a few places are doing?

What does it involve, and had anyone ever had this done to their sails? Results?



Thanks

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It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

86 H16

Define "reconditioning".

Heck if I know... LOL, I saw a couple of times were it was mentioned that people had the sails done on e bay... I suspect they are getting them crisp again. but thats a guess

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It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

86 H16

There is no way to get a sail "crisp" again.

The crispness comes from resin that's part of the cloth manufacturing process. Over time, the resin breaks down and the sails become softer, stretchier and more porous.

If by reconditioning, you mean "cleaned up and repaired", any sailmaker can do that, altough I suggest cleaning them yourself.

This stuff works great:

You can buy it off eBay for about $8 a bottle.

When I see someone say that Ill have to ask them what they are talking about exactly...

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It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

86 H16

As a sail ages it loses its shape, a good sail-maker can take the old sail apart and re-cut some of the panels to recapture the original shape. I had this done some years back with an old 16 I had and it seamed to work good.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

there are sail lofts that will clean your sail and then reapply the resins to the cloth. They state that the sails are crisp again. I have never seen a sail thats had this done to it. If it were done correctly I would assume the sail would be recut to remove stretched areas and then resin reapplied. Sounds great, but I have no idea if it works or how long it would last.

Well, I'll be da. . . ed.

I just stumbled across this on the Internet. I never knew such a service existed before.

http://www.sailcare.com/index.shtml

I wonder how well it works.

Wow, if I still had my previous boat and sails I would try it in a heartbeat at $98.00 for a Hobie 16 main. If any of you try it please be sure and let us know how it works.

I called the sail cleaners and they are not restoring Hobie Sails anymore. They had a couple of sails that had problems with the batton pockets wrinkleing and they had to buy 2 customers new mains, OUCH.

They said it was due to the way the sails were put together on those specific sails... He said they were getting 5 hobie mains in a month and they hated to do it but they really got beat up on those 2 mains.

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It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

86 H16

I can tell you that a scrub brush, cup of liquid Tide, and a kiddie pool don't work.

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Adams17
H17 Sport, Wave

Ok, I did not ask about reconditioning, but they will do repairs on Hobie sails.
$44.00/hour. I will probably be sending my 1973 red white and blue ones in this winter.

Sam

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Sail Like you Have a Pair
Bluish gray 73 - 83 H16
Super Nice Yellow 84 H18