I have an aluminum storage box on my trailer where I keep the main, jib and spinnaker. The trailer sits on the beach right next to my N6.0. I noticed that during those hot days temperature inside that aluminum box gets up to 90 – 100 deg.
Does the temperature have any negative effect on the sail life while it is stored in the trailer? I always dry my sail before it goes in the sail bag and trailer. There is no need to wash them before storage, I sail in fresh water of Lake Michigan.
Thanx
Kris
Are you talking farenheit or celcius?
If farenheit, I dont think it will do much damage to cloth or glues used as long the box is well ventilated and dry.
If you are talking celcius, well.. <img src=
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You bet it does - over time. Does the phrase
store in a cool, dry place
ring a bell?
Sunlight, heat and moisture are your sails' worst enemies.
Matt,
what is 100F going to do to a modern laminate sail as long as it is clean and dry? Just wondering, as I am pretty sure the laminates, glues and threads can take that.
I assume that we are not talking about old style dacron, cotton, flax or wool sails for a N6.0 <img src=
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Rolf, all plastics outgas (that
new sail smell
) to some extent. They also oxidize (that's what makes them brittle). Heat accelerates that process.
Granted, a mylar-based sail will hold up longer to that treatment than a dacron based one, but heat is not good for a sail. He probably wouldn't notice the difference over one season, but heat will definitely shorten the life of the sail by making it brittle before its time.
I've seen sails (dacron admittedly) that have been left in sailboxes unused for several years. They shattered when we tried to unroll them.
Matt, I believe that the mechanical life of a sail will be over due to chafe and general usage/handling/mis-handling before outgassing at 100degF (37degC) becomes an issue. How much the sail is used is a very important part of the equation of course.
We 'always' store our sails in our white painted trailer, and have not had noticed any ill effect?
Do you happen to have any references to literature on the subject (I would like to read more)? I have only read about outgassing tests for vectran, and they started testing at 120degC.
“I assume that we are not talking about old style dacron, cotton, flax or wool sails for a N6.0”
The main in one of mylar-based sails. So far I had no problem with that main but I had to replace see through window in jib. The window just cracked like glass – it was brittle to the point that you could break it just by twisting it. But it was not the original sail that came with the boat. The original jib is still in good shape and it is stored in the same box.
So what are the other solutions to store sails on the beach. I really do not like the idea of carrying those sails with me every time I go sailing. They take too much space in the car.
A friend of mine once had a solar-powered dome fan mounted to the roof of his car. It was weather-tight but when the sun shone on it, the fan would circulate fresh air into his car. This kept the passenger compartment from heating up - even in south Florida. Perhaps something like that could keep air circulating through a trailer box on the beach.
Regards,
Eric
Just for grins I looked up the thermal vacuum stability of fabrics and film. None of what we use for sails is great. I also do not see any difference between 75 and 120F. It gets somewhat better at 32F but not a lot (months increase in life, not years)
I do not know how you store your sails, but mine is either in my sailbox or in my garage. There is not a lot of temperature difference between the 2.
I have been pondering the
store sails in cool dry place
. Where I live the only cool dry place available to store my sails in the summer is under my bed and I am not going to go that far.
So, in conclusion unless you store your sails in a humidity controlled refrigerator at home, I do not see any impact to storing the sails in a dry ventilated sail. However store them wet and you will see a big difference.
If you are worried about aging try Beta Cloth or Rene 41. I think they would suck as sails but they would last a long time.
Personal experience. I have seen many old dacron Tornado sails pulled out of sailtubes or trailers stored on blacktop in Houston for 3-10 years with no damage. I have seen nearly new Hobie, Laser, or Sunfish sails
stuck togather or brittle after similiar treatment. I don't know the difference in the fabric.
My F-27 came with a mylar schreacher that had been left in the heat a bit too much. My guess is it was left furled in the sun often, as the leach and foot were faded. But all of the sail that was not directly exposed to UV would have been hot. The whole sail was delaminated. It was a shame, as it was a Smyth sail that looked fine fabric-wise, but all of the mylar had become delaminated. It appeared to me to be the effects of the sail baking in the heat. Not sure how long it took to get in that shape.
Hey, that's not a bad idea if you can afford it. My monoslug has a solar powered vent in the forward hatch that does a surprising job keeping the boat fresh. You could mount something like this in the top front of the box (where it gets sunlight) combined with some sort of vent at the rear and I bet it would be good to keep it cool several degrees.
If the beach-box sails are trashed, the boat will be following rapidly. Covering my Florida boats with a tarp has kept them dry inside, alive for 30 years & the sails too. (they are Non-racing sails obviously). Not talking Resurrection Day here!