Water conservation is NO part of the following procedures. If you are not planning to use extravagant quantities of gently flowing water in the rinse process, it is probably better to fly with a dirty sail. Soap will become concentrated in a poorly rinsed sail, and may attack the fabric, or the stitching. Dampness, in the future, could renew that attack, so plan to rinse, rinse, and rinse again.

If you do decide on a sail-cleaning event, set the glider up in a shady place, with a good source of clean flowing water. The most harmful dirt (like sand or grit) can easily be hosed off, using a gentle, solid steam of water. The trick is to flow the water across the sailcloth, and not to point the water stream into the material. Flowing water carries dirt away; water impacting the surface just drives the dirt deeper. If all of the dirt is on one side of the cloth, you could use this "impact" technique to your advantage; wash only from the "clean" side; do this only if flowing water does not remove the dirt, first.

I do not recommend high-pressure sprays, as they might make the sail weaker, and more porous to the air. The only chemical "cleaner" that I like on sailcloth is Simple Green, and then only when diluted. Try various dilutions in easy stages, first 10% chemical cleaner with 90% water, then 25% cleaner, then 50%, et c. Use the weakest solution of cleaner that does the job. Apply the cleaner with a trigger-spray bottle, set for "spray" and not "stream". With water flowing across a problem area, use the softest-bristled of paint brushes (like an artist's brush) to coax out the dirt. Do not use sponges or wash cloths on the sail, if you can avoid it. They usually just smear the dirt around, cutting nearby undamaged sail fibers, and drive the dirt deeper into the sail. On the most extreme dirt, such as black oil, use two very soft sponges, gently, one on each side of the material, and "scrub" very gently in tiny circular motions. Apply fresh cleaner often, and rinse the area clean with generously flowing water after each attempt. Wash the sponges vigorously after each attempt, so you do not compound the problem. You can not expect to get all possible dirt off a sail; just get it clean enough to live with, without degrading the material's structural strength.

Rinse the sail thoroughly and repeatedly, when you are satisfied with the cleaning process. Leave the glider set up in a shady, airy (but not breezy) place to dry completely. A hair dryer can be used to direct warm (not hot) air at structural junctions, sleeving, and hardware. If you remove the end caps from the main airframe tubing, you can direct warm air from the hair dryer through the length of each tube, to assist the drying process; twenty minutes for each tube should be sufficient. Be sure that everything is completely dry, before you pack the glider for storage.

 

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