When Should You Replace Your Sails?

Sailing is both an exciting and intricate activity. Although your boat may offer you a lot of adventure and pleasure along the way, it is important that you still remain aware of maintaining it in its best condition. It is important that you regularly check its engines, its equipment and most especially its sails.

Maintenance

Maintaining your sail should be one of your top priorities especially if you do not want to experience any hassle or danger in the future. Since your sails will be exposed to a lot of elements during your sailing, such as water, moist, salt and even UV rays, it is vital that you regularly wash it and make sure that it is always fresh and clean. Moreover, if there are tears on your sails, you can easily patch them up but if they are too big, then you can already think of replacing them. Even if you regularly maintain your sails, it is still inevitable that it will give up on one time or another. Then, that is your cue to buy a new sail and replace your old one.

Salt and Water Accumulation

Basically, accumulated salt and water on the sail may cause it to harden once it dries up. It is important that you always make sure to wash away any signs of salt or bad moisture on the sail. However, when you have already done this and your sail still dries up hard, then it is time that you finally replace it with a new one. On average, a well maintained sail can last up to ten seasons however the UV panel may be replaced every three or five seasons.

Buying a New Sail

When you are buying your new set of sails, it is important to not only remind yourself of the costs which you are about to spend but also of the characteristics of sails which you need to remember. Aside from salt and water, UV rays also serve as a risk. Definitely, the heat coming from the sun can do a lot of damage to your sails, therefore it is important that find a replacement which can combat such rays. When you have finally installed your new sails, then perhaps you can think about covering them up especially if you are not using your boat. You can use boom covers which have UV protective materials and panels. These covers can definitely prevent your sails and ropes from rotting.

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