Painted Lettering on Kevlar sails

[sv_nona]

Hi All,

We are just about to complete on a yacht purchase and the sea trial highlighted that both the Main and Genoa sails have painted on Lettering.

The sails are Kevlar and I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on how it might be possible to remove such a thing? Or how best to cover the lettering, as its not racing numbers, its a previous charter companies name etc.

I do not have any detail on the type of paint, but I would think some cleaners would be harmful to the fabric of the sail?

I have been told the sails of this type would be in the region of £12k so if we can't get the wording off, we would be looking for some kind of discount.

thanks
Chris

[chrisr]

in my experience you cannot remove this. unless some sub-standard paint has been used, it's going to cause too much damage to the sail to try n get it off

in the past we have either just lived with it or blocked out whatever graphic, number etc has been applied.

in this market not sure how successful you'll be asking for a discount

good luck

cheers,

ps : btw, any kevlar sails are going to be pretty ancient and probably not worth saving anyway

[sv_nona]

Thanks Chris, we where just thinking about the covering up idea which probably will be the best option in the end, try at least to make it look like a design or something.

Regarding Kevlar, are sails no longer made with this fabric?

Chris

[Franziska]

Kevlar/Aramid has largely been replaced by Dyneema/Spectra in sails.

Racing folks tend to use Carbon.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Kevlar/Aramid has largely been replaced by Dyneema/Spectra in sails.

Racing folks tend to use Carbon.

And one reason that kevlar has been replaced by other fibers is that it had longevity issues. HEnce, it is pretty likely that those sails are not going to be in very good shape (literally) and will need replacement soonish. This kinda means that getting rid of the lettering will be a moot point.

Jim

[chrisr]

we brought a race boat in abt 2003. came with about 20 kevlar sails - most of which went straight into the nearest skip...

sorry to bear bad tidings

cheers,