You might have read about my last 550 nautical mile sailing trip, a shakedown cruise on the Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 60 with my clients from Les Sables d´Olonne to Porto. If not – what sounds like a July summer trip (and surely is for most who do it during this time of the year) – it was a rainy, cold and very windy experience. Don´t get me wrong, I love sailing no matter what weather, but especially for the owner´s wife and kids this was not really the summer vacation they have hoped for.
As the owner, an experienced sailor himself, and me were the only two capable seamen aboard, we shared a two-watch-system with on/off every 4 hours during the night. Especially nearing the Cape Finisterre, weather really deteriorated and we´ve had some very harsh rain. Also, due to our upwind sailing in strong winds, we´ve as well had some very big spray coming over. Thank god I´ve forgot to take out my waterproof Gill oilskin offshore clothing out of my duffel bag by chance and so I was happy to be very well protected.
Treating your sailing clothing right
Back at home, unpacking, the clothing smelled awful. Having put together everything very hastily right after arriving to Porto harbor as my plane was about to leave a few hours later, the clothing didn´t had the chance to dry. Now, it was damp and smelly. So, the question arose: How to clean tech garment? And in a wider sense, since I´ve bought the new set of Gill offshore trousers and jacket some years ago and had never re-waterproofed it, how is it done? Well, let´s first check the washing instructions …
The garment is a composing of high tech materials, mostly Nylon and Polyester-fibers. As per label, the stuff should be machine washed with cold water only, very “gentle”. This means, for most washing machines have a program for sports-clothing. The label also states “no tumbling dry” and “no dry cleaning”. That ironing those synthetic or “plastic” garments is out of question should be self-evident. For me, usually, what I do when there is too much salt or dirt apparent, I take the trousers and jacket to my shower.
Here I rinse the clothing with the shower head, lukewarm water, thoroughly sprayed. Arriving back from Portugal, my clothing was indeed full of white half dried stains by Atlantic salt, but the smell was really intensive moldy and frowsty. I needed something “stronger”. Thank God my dear sailing friend Gunnar Struckmann is the Gill sales representative for Germany, so I gave him a call. He suggested to go for a special high-tech sports garment laundry detergent, which I ordered on Amazon right away, thanks to Prime, it arrived the next day. Let´s test it!
Special laundry detergent for your offshore sailing cloth
Nikwax is a UK-based company specializing in laundry detergents and waterproofing agents. They also offer products dedicated for sports clothing in terms of desodoration (I can remember how my cycling shoes smelled after a rainy 300 km Milano-San Remo race …) and other outdoor-products. Gunnar recommended I´d go for a two-step cleansing: First, washing and cleaning, secondly, “refueling” of the waterproofing. Nikwax offer two dedicated products right away:
NikWax „Tech Wash“ ist he cleaning agent, but is said to also re-waterproof and will be re-activating the clothing´s breathability. According to the label on the bottle, the cleaning agent contains no PFCs, which had long been used in waterproofing. PFC is perfluorocarbon, a hazardous chemical that is causing health damage when in contact with the wearer´s skin. Same goes for “TX Direct”, the waterproofing agent. Both bottles do not contain a list of ingredients, which is a bit awkward. The bottle sizes that I chose, 300 ml, will last for 2 washings of two pieces for the washing bottle, 3 runs for the waterproofing. One may utilize handwash or machine wash – I went for the latter.
Choosing the “sports garment” program on my washing machine, which means a 50 minute stage, at 30 degrees with a minimum 800 tumbling program. After the first program was done, the clothing was still dripping and pretty wet. Offshore jacket and trousers remained in the washing drum and I re-filled the machine with the waterproofing fluid. Another 50 minutes later I took out the stuff, again, dripping with water, and hung them into my shower. The next day, it was dry.
Clean, but also re-waterproofed?
First of all, the stains left of the salt and all of the dirt smudges had been rinsed away, the clothing looks brand new indeed! I don´t know what I had expected but the clothing had no nice smell to it. To the contrary: To all “technical clothing” there is a very strange, one-of-a-kind smell, right? This smell was indeed a bit stronger than before, at least I this is what I felt. Maybe this is the odor of the renewed waterproofing? So if you expect to have a fresh, nice smell to the newly washed oilskin, that just won´t happen.
We will see how effective the re-waterproofing has worked out. For this season as I am “boatless” I have no specific sailing trips planned ahead, but you never know what will happen. Maybe a later summer or autumn dash is ahead and then we´ll see what this Nikwax product is all about. For now I assume my oilskin is back to 100 per cent waterproof, ready for the next foul weather sailing episode.
You might also want to read these related articles:
Gill Offshore clothing after 5 years: OS2 is my favorite!
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