I tried doing what Bill suggested, adding metal strips to narrow the gap, but
the slugs bent the stainless strips out of shape, and the slugs pulled free of
the mast. I mounted the strips with five screws, and that still wasn't enough
to prevent the strips from bending. The wide opening in my mast is about
sixteen inches long. The slugs on my main are round to fit in the mast slot,
with a flat section on the outside to keep the slug from jamming in the slot.
Slugs with just the round section jammed and made it difficult to raise and
lower the sail. I could use a longer slug (someone suggested outhaul slugs),
but that would make the head of the main too high to attach the halyard. I'm 5'
11", and with my present setup I have to step on the spinnaker halyard winch in
order to attach the main halyard.
Alan Bergen
C&C 35 Mk III Thirsty
Rose City YC
Portland, OR
--- Begin Message ---
Alan Bergen wrote:
Eric:
The track on my boat is similar to yours. When I reef, I remove the
pin that keeps the slugs from dropping off the track, slack the
halyard allowing the slugs to drop out of the track, attach the
reefing cringle to the "horns" at the forward end of the boom, and
tighten the main halyard. It's a PITA, but having slugs makes it
easier to drop the main when single-handing. Another choice is to
have a rope luff on your main instead of slugs, or install a fast
track system, such as sold by Tides Marine. Go to www.tidesmarine.com
and click on SailTrack Systems. They're expensive, but it's on my
list of things to upgrade.
Alan Bergen
C&C 35 Mk III Thirsty
Rose City YC
Portland, OR
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan,
To fix the problem, I made up 2 strips of stainless steel approx. 6"X
1.25". I formed them to the shape of the mast and then pop riveted them
in place so that a gap was left the same width as the sail track. When
taking a reef, the slugs are all held in place by the slot extension. At
the end of the season I drill out the pop rivets and put my strips aside
for the next season. It works great for reefs and also makes flaking the
sail easier.
Bill
Caprice 1 - C&C 36
New Richmond, Qc.
--- End Message ---
_______________________________________________
This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album
http://www.cncphotoalbum.com
CnC-List@cnc-list.com
