Sail Care

Whether you sail a hobie cat on the weekends, race J Class boats, or cruising on your private yacht. Here are a few tips to properly caring for and maintaining your sails.


We recommend annual inspection by a professional for all of our new sails as part of the regular maintenance for your sails. 

Mainsails

Whether its inside of a traditional sail cover with soft nylon sail ties, or in one of our Black Dog Sail Loft stack packs you want to protect your sails from UV and moisture. 

If you're not going to be using your boat for a while its best to bend off the sails and store neatly flaked and rolled in a sail bag in a clean dry location. 

Make note of any areas of the sail that may make contact and keep an eye out for chafe in these areas. 

Having your sails professionally inspected and serviced annually with our production team at Black Dog Sail Loft can extend the life of your sails by catching problem areas early on and installing chafe patches in the appropriate locations.

This helps reduce stretch and elongation over time. 

Don't forget to tighten the halyard before you unfurl the main.

Letting your sail flog greatly increases wear along the leech. 

Look for any wear or damaged luff cars or webbing.

Headsails 

If your sail is showing white (dacron) between the colored sections when its furled it needs to be furled tighter. 

Adjust your leech lines in light air. 

Letting your sail flog greatly increases wear along the leech. 

Neatly flaked and rolled inside of a sailbag. 

Downwind Sails

Do not put your sails away wet. moisture attracts mold and reduces the life of the sail.