all of my IOM's sails have the personal sail no. of the previous owner and as I want to do some open events this year, I will need to change them to the boat no.
Has anyone done this before themselves? Do they have any recomendations on how best to remove the old numbers without damaging the sails. The nos 2 & 3 rigs are about 5 years old so the old numbers are well and truly 'stuck-on'
Also should I replace them with self-adhesive ones (not cheap) or use a waterproof felt-tip pen. I have the templates that I downloaded from the web to do felt-tip thingy.
Joined: Thu May 31 2007, 06:00PM Location: Falmouth Posts: 48
Hello CatSailor You should have some success warming the numbers a little with a hair drier to soften the adhesive and to carefully lift and remove the number with a table knife or similar. If you have some old sails I would practice on them first or failing that on the number 3 rig which tends to be made of heavier material.
Hi Cat Sailor, firstly do not use strong solvents such as Acetone or cellulose thinners. The opaque film on the clear mylar will come off and leave you a usable but unsightly sail. Follow Barry's tip first but be careful or the mylar will shrink locally. Fabric numbers adhere more strongly in my experience and however careful you are will leave some glue on the sail. I have found good old white spirit the safest means of removing that but slowly and gently, maybe in more than one session or you lose the opaque fim again! Plastic numbers will generally peel off more easily, especially where warmed a little first and shoud then only leave a little bit of glue round the edge.Out with the white spririt again! Also stand the rig on the bath and give it a wash with warm water and washing up liquid. You will be amazed hot dirty they always are and it washes the spars as well, very inportant if you are sailing on salt water. Good luck
PS. I would be very careful about the felt tip letters. Its easy to get them wrong for spacing or size and then you are stuck with the mistake. Also they fade. Stick on fabric are the best but not always easy to apply. Personally I would go for sticky plastic ones in your circumstances. I had some samples made by our local sign maker last year and they are just fine
Joined: Sat Dec 09 2006, 10:49AM Location: Dundee Posts: 80
I must agree that 'methilated' spirit is the only thing that will take off 'permenant' marker. I've used it many times. I have seen the result of using 'surgical' spirit and isopropal alchol and they both leave a mess or make the sail see through. Black vynal stick on is not suitable for use on the thinnest mylar sails as it expands or contracts differently to the substrate when subjected to hot sun, and wrinkles the sail. OK on the thicker ones and, of course, on dacron. One of theproblems with stick on is that the longer it is on the more difficult it is to take off
