I have a 26' Pearson that I am preparing for sale next spring. The sails are North manufactured in 2004 and the main has the name of my bed and breakfast installed from the sail loft in vinyl letters. I will be sending the sails to North Sails in Clinton Township, MI for cleaning and repair the week of November 15. Should I remove the lettering or let them do it? If I take off the vinyl letters how should I treat the remaining residual glue?

Hi Dean,

Old letters and their related adhesive is a tough one. There will be someresidual gule and it'll be ugly. The loft should be able to get most of the adhesive out of the sail but it could become costly. You can take the letters off yourself and try using denatured alcohol on the areas. A lot of rubbing and such but in my experience the glue spreads rather than goes away. This may leave a large area discolored a bit which may or may not come out with a good wash. If the sail is fairly old you might want to let the potential buyer use it as a bargaining chip knowing he will have to replace the sail whne he buys the boat. I suggest you go to our North Direct site, and request a quote for a replacement sail so you will know how much to be ready to negotiate.

If there is not much adhesive on the sail sometimes rubbing talc powder on the affected areas covers the adhesive with white substance that is at least acceptable.

Hope it all comes out okay.

Regards

Brad White
Service Manager
North Sails

I have a nearly new North Spinnaker and have removed (peeled off) 3 of the 4 numbers. I want to reuse the numbers if possible. My boat number is 1415 the old numbers are 1147. Is there a glue/adhesive that is safe to use? Else I will wait for the loft to provide the new numbers with adhesive already on. I certainly don't want to use any substance that will harm the spinnaker.
Thanks
Bill Kotys

Hello Bill Your ability to peel sail numbers off successfully to where you can even think about re-using them is admirable. Most sail numbers are cut from Insignia cloth which has PSA ( pressure sensitive adhesive) coated on their back side. While some of this may remain on the number after peeeling off , it probaly is not as fresh as when the numbers were originally installed on to your sail. While most adhesives wont harm your spinnaker cloth, they can either create stiff areas, or unsightly sticky areas, that will attract all types of dirt and detritus. Your new application of the correct sail number for your sail will go much smoother if you rely on the fresh numbers supplied by your sail loft
Best Regards, James

Hi James
Thanks for your advice. I have obtained numbers from the sail loft and will have Scott Savage help me put them on the spinnaker...it's best to get an expert than try to do it myself. Thanks so much. I'll proudly wear my new Team Blue ball cap to the Interlake Nationals this week!
Best,
Bill