Wally I looked at the photos of what you did. The mast on Stella Blue appears to be quite different from the mast on my 35 MKII. On my boat the gate is about a foot above the gooseneck and only about 2 inches long and it has to be opened to install or remove the slugs for the main sail. I think my mast may be more like the one on Eric's 35 MKII. I use that little $10 thing that you say went kerplunk to stop the slugs from falling down to and out the gate. The lower most slugs, I would say about 6 but I would need to unpack the sail and count them to be sure of how many, are attached to the sail on a continuous line that goes through the grommets and the slugs, so those slugs are not sewn into the grommets so they can all fall down the track and stack on top of each other when the halyard is released, either to lower sail all the way or to reef. When packing the sail the lower most slug in the stack therefore starts at that stopper which is a little more than a foot above the gooseneck, so that puts the head of the sail when packed with all of its slugs one on top of the other about a foot or so higher than it would be if the lower most slug fell to gooseneck level. That extra foot makes it a stretch for vertically challenged people to put the sail cover on the mast above the head of the sail and also a stretch to fasten or release the halyard shackle at the head. I can reach a bit higher than required but as I grow older and shrink the stretch gets harder every year. I like the way the system works as is so if I were to change things I would look to installing some sort of step at the base of the mast rather than close the gate with the type of fix you and others have described.
Dwight Veinot C&C 35 MKII, Alianna Head of St. Margaret's Bay, NS -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Wally Bryant Sent: November 18, 2012 7:36 AM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List missing sail track? Eric - I think it's common for that spar, and always assumed that the mast was designed for a rope luff. A lot of folks have made a cover for the slot to keep the slides in the track. I did this: <http://www.wbryant.com/StellaBoat/Projects/newrig/maintrck/maintrk.htm> Fiberglass turned out to be a little too flexible, though, and I had to tap another couple of screws into the spar. Wal Eric Frank wrote: > When I was having measurements taken for a new mainsail, the sailmaker commented that the sail track on my 1972 CC 35 mk2 begins nearly a foot above the boom. <snip> _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2629/5401 - Release Date: 11/17/12 _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
