Submitted on March 5, 2006 by Lee Taylor

Question: We have a 36' Tashiba with NorLam sails, which has made it to New Zealand and back, but right now its sails are rather cruddy with some blackish mildew stains.

What/how would you recommend cleaning them? Have you any experience with WD-40's product, X-14? It's a mold remover that I have had great success with cleaning the mildewed trampoline on a HobieCat, but my wife, INDIGO's Captain, is absolutely paranoid about trying to use it on "her" sails.

Thank you,
Lee Taylor

Answer: Dear Mr. Taylor,

I have never used WD-40 X-14 so I looked it up the on their website. It gives a lot of useful information, including some precautions:

www.wd40.com/Brands/x14_faqs.html

They list sodium hypochlorite as the primary ingredient, 'at a level similar to bleaches on the market' (meaning about 4-6% concentration), and they distinguish it from other leading mildew removers such as Clorox and Tilex by saying it is 'activated by Ph adjustments'.

If that's what it is, it is probably as effective as they say and I'm thinking about buying some to clean the shower at home. I would expect it to work anywhere Clorox works, while still being death for common sail fibers like Nylon and Aramids.

To clean a sail, it will still be necessary to allow it to soak in. Mildew cannot get too deep into the face of Naugahyde, which is at heart a fancy vinyl film, but mildew buries itself inside the fiber bundles of woven sailcloth where not even power-washing will get it.

We usually recommend a soak in a fairly well diluted solution, as much as 30:1. (About four gallons of Clorox in a normal bathtub.) This means the sodium hypochlorite is diluted to about 0.2%. For this purpose, you might want to check the economies of Clorox in a gallon bottle compared to X-14 in a spray applicator.

After all that, I have two cautions. First, make sure your Norlam sails do not contain aramid fiber. (Norlam laminates have never used nylon.) If you aren't sure, I can help determine the contents if you know the cloth style or have some other information about the sails.

Second, compare the various contents of WD-40 X-14 to those of similar sodium hypochlorite-based products on adjacent shelves, just to be sure there isn't anything strange and frightening lurking inside. I seriously doubt there is, but it's something I would do before putting it on my own sail.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Bill Bergantz
North Cloth

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