Any tips on getting some clarity back into monofilm panels

found it hard to see through while sailing a couple of small waves yesterday and got snotted by a little section that looked through a clouded panel to be nice for a top turn - but was half broken and smacked me instead - resulting in a 100 metre swim to my gear.

Any solutions that don't cause more problems

Think I will just have to look around the mast

I found that just hosing salt off wasn't quite good enough, so once a year I've got mine a lot better by hanging up and scrubbing with warm water with a TINY drop of detergent and a broom. Then rinse with rainwater (water is a bit hard here so perhaps where you are it may rinse clear if using tap water)


If you mean lots of small scratches on it, I don't think there is anything much you can do

Don't Rub panels liberally with battered savs, dimmies and anything else from Stewies uncles Bain Marie

I will divide the panel in four and do a randomn blind controlled trial with all of the above (except 303 as this may involve money).

How do I get stewies bay marie savs and dimmies?

try acetone

Rub panels liberally with battered savs, dimmies and anything else from Stewies uncles Bain Marie

That is just plain silly.

DO NOT YOU RAINDEX ON PLASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cleaned my sail on Thursday with Plexus $22 a can from BCF

Designed to clean all kinds of plastics was originally designed for aviation to clean the window but great on boat clears and sails.

my sail is 6 months old and it came up like new, could see through the main panel as good as the day i bought it

the water beads off the sail as well so no water marks after i had finished

will probably have to repeat the clean every couple of sails but its well worth the 2 minutes of work so you can see the lip miles before you hit it

you dont need water, just spray and wipe it off
so can be done after you have rigged up anywhere

best thing since sliced bread

www.plexusplasticcleaner.com/plexus.html

Don't use acetone or solvents. When monofilm sails are made, the panels are initially joined by double sided sticky stuff, and then sewn afterwards.

Solvent like Acetone will attack the sticky stuff, and will end up weakening the seams. Besides which, Acetone would only clean off any residue on the sail, and do nothing to help the very small scratches which are generally where the problem is.

303 Protectant is meant to work, and possibly turtle wax 'ice' as well.

After cleaning, a guy informed me that treating them with Amorall
www.armorall.com/
will protect them.

I wonder if "plexus" would work. It does wonders on boat clears.

Plexus is good if the sail is just dirty but if it is scratched you will need to use a cutting compund. There are fibreglass and (plastic) polishes you can use. Plexus is not that good at getting scratches out.

jp747 said...
turtle wax as in car wax???

Yeah - it's designed to fill tiny scratches in the clear coat on 'well kept vehicles' with a clear hard wax to restore a showroom shine. Also contains UV inhibitors.

Should be perfect for the job. I haven't tried it myself yet though.

Turtle wax 'Ice': www.turtlewax.com/

555 said...

jp747 said...
turtle wax as in car wax???

Yeah - it's designed to fill tiny scratches in the clear coat on 'well kept vehicles' with a clear hard wax to restore a showroom shine. Also contains UV inhibitors.

Should be perfect for the job. I haven't tried it myself yet though.

Turtle wax 'Ice': www.turtlewax.com/

interesting as long as the wax itself clears when it fills the scratches but better than seeing just lines all over

goodbrewster said...

padi said...

Jesalt pointed out '303' to me like 8 years ago, works pretty well. Can source it from any Autobarn or if they dont have it in stock, they can order it in for you.

All these products are rather expensive. Vinegar and water isn't.

If its not expensive its not good enough. Maybe Perrier and cider vinegar...

Mr Sheen works well on boat clears. Haven't tried it on mono though.

555 said...

Vinegar and water doesn't fill small surface scratches. Don't think Perrier would either.

Scotch on the other hand, could definitely be worth a try.

Vinegar goes OK on fish and chips... Grease from battered savs is great for filling those nasty to fill scratches