Rust-Stained Sails? Try This

Last winter one of my dock neighbors found a bagged sail floating in the marina.  He thought it was a bag of line, but on closer inspection discovered it was a sail, and gave it to me. When I spread it out, it looked terrible. It was filthy, rust-stained, smelly – it had obviously been in the water for quite a while. But. . .  the material was not bad. It wasn’t weak; there were no tears; all the edges were intact.

It had a wire luff and pendent at the head, and sheets attached to the clew with a snap shackle – that I couldn’t get open. Last week I spread it out again and took a stab at cleaning it. Here are some before and after photos.

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