Maintenance & Warranty

Maintenance & Warranty for Ready-Made Shade Sails

Monotec 370 shade sails come with a 15-year warranty. It covers manufacturing defects. Stitching, fabric faults, corner failures straight from the factory. Not wear and tear. Not sun damage. Not poor installation. Only faults from how it was made.

Cleaning

Bird droppings, pollen, dust — it all sticks. Wash with mild soap and water. Soft brush only. Rinse well. Let it dry in open air. Don’t fold wet. Damp folds trap mildew and weaken corners.

Near the coast — Takapuna, Mission Bay — rinse more often. Salt builds up fast. Inland decks? Every few months is enough.

Inspection

Check corners, seams, and stitching. Check D-shackles, turnbuckles, eye bolts. Look for frays, loose threads, tiny tears. Small faults today prevent big rips tomorrow.

After a storm, always check tension. A gust can stretch or twist hardware. Replace broken or worn parts immediately.

Tension

Sail must be taut. Not flapping. Not overstretched.

West-facing decks in Titirangi: tighten more, winds hit hard. Long spans: SS316 turnbuckles required. Cheap zinc fittings? They’ll rust, fail. Coastal homes? Tension more often. Salt spray loosens bolts.

Sagging fabric collects water. Stretch too much, corners rip. Balance is simple. Check, adjust, check again.

Storage

Off-season? Storms coming? Take the sail down. Fold loosely. Keep it dry and cool. Avoid sun and damp corners.

Salt air destroys hardware fast. Wet sails stored in sheds develop mildew. Do it right, and it lasts years. Skip it, and corners tear, fabric fades.

Hardware

Always SS316 stainless steel. Posts, D-shackles, eye bolts, turnbuckles. Cheap steel corrodes in months near the sea. Salt eats zinc fast. Cheap hardware voids warranty.

Local NZ Conditions

Auckland nor’westers gust up to 80 km/h. Coastal suburbs carry salt in the wind. Inland terraces bake in UV. South Island rain and snow add weight. Each environment needs checking, tensioning, sometimes removal. A sail isn’t a roof. It works where it can, lasts longer if looked after.

Clean it. Check it. Tighten it. Store it. Use proper hardware.
Warranty covers only factory faults. Everything else is maintenance.
Follow this. Sail holds up. Ignore it. Sail sags, tears, stretches.

Monotec 370 sails survive real NZ sun, wind, and salt — if installed properly, maintained regularly, and hardware is correct. No hype. No marketing. Just gear that works.