Dwight;
The tracks C&C installed on my boat at the factory are Merriman H tracks. In cross section, they look sort of like an I beam with a very short web, or, if laid on the edge, they look like an H. I suppose the wide base of the installation helps maintain the seal because the track is much less susceptible to wiggling under side loads than a modern T track. Thats supposition on my part, but I know the tracks installed at the factory sometime between January and April of 1976 have never leaked. They are bedded in Butyl, and the 5/16ths screws holding the track are tightly fit into the holes in the deck which are also filled with compressed butyl. Under the deck, and above the headliner, is an aluminum backing plate about 2 wide, and the screws are double nutted so they retain torque. The spacing of the holes in the H track is also less than the standard spacing of T track (I once considered replacing the tracks and found about the spacing in the process), and I think the closer spacing of the fasteners also helps maintain the seal. On the 3 or 4 38s Ive been aboard, the headliner has a channel that drops down below the area of the fasteners for the tracks sort of like the flanged area at the edge of the liner near the toe rail fasteners. The channel has a removable cover plate held up by self taping screws for access to the fasteners. The channel and the cover would make it pretty apparent where the leak was, if you should have one. Now my 25 mk1 did not have a genoa track or a simple means of adjusting the sheet leads. I guess the idea was to snap shackle blocks to the slotted toe rail. The boat came with 3 or 4 sets of snatch blocks with snap shackles when I bought her. When I installed the Garhauer genoa cars on her, I had to install a new T track. It is actually a Harken T track purchases locally, because shipping two 8 foot pieces of Garhauer track from California to Pennsylvania was more than all the herdware combined. I positioned the track where I wanted it on the deck, taped it down, and marked where all the holes needed to be. I then set the track aside and, using a ¾ diameter hole saw, cut through the deck and into the core without cutting the headliner. Pulled out the balsa plugs and cleaned out the holes and removed core between deck and liner around each hole. The filled each hole with thickened West epoxy. Cant recall exactly which numbers, but I do recall it was slow cure hardener and high load filler. After the epoxy was cured, I remarked the position for each hole and drilled through for the ¼ screws I was using, making sure to chamfer the deck at the top of each hole to get a good seal later. I also made backing plates to go inside the liner. Three plates for each side (below the deck in the lazarette, in the dish fiddle and food locker opposite, and in the fiddle behind the settees) because the bulkheads were solid and there was no allowance for a backing plate to be installed through them. When I installed the tracks, I dry fit the tracks and put blue tape along the deck on each side so I could easily remove any sealant that squished out. Then I coated the bottom of the T with 4200, inserted all the screws and coated the threads with 4200 (to fill the holes full) and then mounted the track onto the deck with the screws poking down inside. Then install the backing plates over the screws and secure with Ny-Lok nuts. Next was to have someone on deck to keep each screw from turning while I seated the Ny-Lok nuts from below until sealant squished out from under the track. Next day may helper came back and torque the nuts while making sure the screws did not turn and break the seal inside each hole. Finally, take an Exacto knife and cut the sealant along the edge of the track and pull up the excess sealant along with the blue tape. Did all that in 1996, and havent had a leak or soft spot in the deck yet. Knock wood. Now I know that for most everyone on the list, and probably for you as well, just saying that if you over drill, fill, and redrill the holes you should get a good seal would have been adequate. But describing the whole process is probably beneficial for some of the less experienced listers. Besides, now you can understand my comment in an earlier post that replacing the existing tracks is a true PITA. Rick Brass Washington, NC From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of dwight Sent: Monday, January 20, 2014 2:43 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Adjustable genoa car system for C&C 38 So do most people get away with installing these tracks and never have leaks. With all the associated holes through the deck it would be very fortunate to never experience leaking and with the liners in C&C boats that leaking can be well hidden.
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