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Sail de-lamination? How to repair - is it possible?
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Author:  widerisbetter [ Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:50 am ]
Post subject:  Sail de-lamination? How to repair - is it possible?
I am getting out my Neil Pryde sails and notice that the clear mylar layer of the sail in a lower panel is peeling away from the underlayment. I am sure the sail is "usable" but for how long. It has separated along the stitches. I can stick my hand inside the "pocket". I have never seen this before.

Any ideas on how to repair? I appreciate it folks 8)
Author:  Shark11 [ Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:28 am ]
Post subject:  Sorry
When mylar delaminates, it is done. You are better off either:

A. Replacing the entire panel that is damaged.
B. Buying a new Pentax sail.
C. Sail it till it tears.

This is a very common problem with these sails and the mylar H16 sails. They have to be stored correctly. They were also prone to absorbing water, so they have to be dried well.
Author:  widerisbetter [ Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:32 am ]
Post subject:  Ouch a roni
thanks Shark - I was afraid that those might be the answers that I needed but didn't want to know :roll:

I think I'll slap a little sail-repair tape on and go another season. I am really careful about stowage, drying and etc. Thanks for the heads up. Oh for the days of Dacron :wink:

(counts pennies and starts saving....)
Author:  DougHobie17 [ Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Pentex Squre Top
Buy a Pentex squaretop, you will love it. I boght a 190 square foot Pentex reacher also. Downwind is a BLAST now :D :D :D

Let me know.

Doug
Author:  widerisbetter [ Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Thanks Doug
Sounds like a plan - depending on the cash flow :roll:

(Even if a "Pentex Squaretop" sounds like a marine corps hairstyle :lol: )
Author:  Mark of Arabia [ Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
I also have old sails which are on the point of no-return.

I repaired a small tear in my jib (next to the clew plate) with mylar tape and it kept pulling out when I sailed. With nothing really to lose I decided to try to heat-shrink the mylar tape to the jib using my hot-air paint stripper gun... and it worked beautifully! You can hardly see the tape now it is melted in, and the tear is contained.

I also have the same problem you describe on my mainsail, with small panels delaminating along the stitches, as well as a kind of patchy delamination throughout. There is enough mylar to hold the sail in shape, but it clearly isn't smooth and invisible the way I imagine it's supposed to be. Bring on the heat gun...!!! I have to say I was pretty careful and made the decision early on to simply improve the bonding a bit, rather than melt it totally back in place.

The whole sail gets VERY hot, so I worked in small areas, moving the gun around a lot and rubbed it hard immediately with a cloth to improve the bonding and help re-distribute the heat. End result, this fixed all the open pockets and loose bits of torn mylar, which I figured would affect the wind flow. It also gave a more secure overall bonding of the mylar to the dacron.

I imagine the purists are cringing already, but it worked. Sadly my sailing still sucks, but at least I've saved the sails for another season of nobly fighting it out for second last place!
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