Does UV damage printed sail graphics?

It differs by process

NaNo-Print is the most UV-sensitive of the four. In practice that matters far less than it sounds, because of where it is used: NaNo-Print goes on dinghies and day sailers, and those sails come down and go away after sailing.

On the other processes we have had no reports of UV degradation from sails supplied since 2007, and we do not see it on our own sails. That is not the same as saying it does not happen. It does. It is simply slower than the cloth around it.

What fails first

The colour, not the bond. Adhesion is protected, so a graphic at the end of its life is a faded one, not a peeling one. The material degenerates over time and the colour goes with it, but the graphic stays where it was put — it does not lift, and it does not come off the sail in pieces halfway through a season.

The exception: stickers in full sun

A sticker left in strong sunlight will die after some years. The rule we give is simple: if a sticker is going to sit in full sun permanently, it should be coated. A boat that lives on a mooring with its sails up is a different case from one that packs them away, and the Mediterranean is a different case from Northern Europe.

Tell us where the boat lives before we specify anything. It changes the recommendation.

The two coatings

We offer two. One is a more conventional coating — our own product. The other is a nano coating, which can be renewed annually rather than being a one-time treatment. In practice we rarely reach for either on a racing sail, for the reason above: the cloth tires first.

One warning if you do. Nano coating removes adhesion completely. Once cloth is coated nothing bonds to it again — no glued panels, no patches, no further work by the loft. It goes on a finished sail, never on cloth that still has to be assembled. On stickers we apply it ourselves as part of production; on a finished sail it is for the sailmaker and owner to arrange.