How do people rinse sails (especially Mylar) after a weekends salty sea sailing? Drying mylar sails is tricky enough. Have tried in back garden but grass/ grit tends to stick to them. 

Any thoughts?

Putting mylar sails outside in the sun on the ground to dry does more harm than leaving them wet!! The UV breaks down the film, and if they're kevlar reinforced this gets damaged too.

Given that plastic can't rot, if you don't have the luxury of a high garage in which to hang the sails to dry, you're probably best just leaving them wet in the bag. Having said that, I manage to dry my B14 and Fireball sails in a one bedroom flat by laying them out in the lounge, starting up the dehumidifier and going out!!

Its probably a good idea to get rid of the salt if you can, as I suspect this could cause damage .... and seawater certainly makes sails stink after a few months!!

Have a look at:

http://www.thames-water.com/UK/region/en_gb/content/FAQ/FAQ_000051.jsp - http://www.thames-water.com/UK/region/en_gb/content/FAQ/FAQ_ 000051.jsp

As far as I can tell, as a boat isn't a "Private car, taxi, caravan or trailer" the hosepipe ban doesn't actually apply to washing boats or sails! (and I suspect they've not just forgotten to include them, but specifically excluded them without making a big announcement of it)

If you used washing the sails as a sneaky means of watering your lawn they might get a bit upset though

We are with Mid Kent Water and the club has removed all the hose pipes so I guess they are not allowed - commercial user of water I suppose.

Either way I think we all need to do our bit (and Mid Kent need to fix their leaks ...)

Rick

What you need is something like this:

That sexy British Moth there is mine.

As for the other one, doesn't it look great in one piece!

Along a similar vein - what are people doing about rinsing their deck hardware when there is a ban on hoses?

This has just come in where I am and I am worried that all the blocks on my boat are going to get destroyed by salt crystals that stay in them. I have always hosed these items very carefully after sailing and now I can't??

i think u will find your clubs have acted without need as sailing boats are allowed to use water for maintance!

we have a copy of the letter from the water company attached to our taps!

i would start asking your club for the hoses back!!!

Which water company is that?

Can you post a copy of the letter, please, Hurricane? My boat's seizing up - buckets can only rinse so much.

The way I see it, the resources we have in Kent are finite; we can choose to maintain the status quo and enjoy a nice lifestyle including rinsing our boats (note we're catching up again now the rain has started falling), or we can skimp and save to permit more housing to be built and put more still more pressure on infrastructure. "If you'd all stand a bit closer, we can fit a few more in...."