I had the Harken car and track system Professionally installed on the mast of our Hunter 40.5. The main was full batten and very hard to get up with out binding. This was not an end to our problems. The Harken system was also binding. at one point it took 20 min to get the main down. I called Harken and they were very good about helping. They sent a person over to our slip in Mich. to look it all over. He had to remove all of the torrolon ball bearings and reassemble the whole system. What he said was that I would need to go up the 62 ft mast to clean this track regularly. This is not always convient. Is any one having this same problem. I wonder about salt water as I am located in fresh water. Have you come up with any solutions to your problems with the track? I suspose that all track systems would have some what of the same problems.
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lost two cars
Sorry to hear about your mast track problems. I can't say I've experienced anything similar with our Harken track and cars but we did lose two somehow without even noticing so thought that might make you feel better Don
Sorry to hear about your mast track problems. I can't say I've experienced anything similar with our Harken track and cars but we did lose two somehow without even noticing so thought that might make you feel better Don
Harken Mast Track System
Robert We have one on our Catalina 34. The only problem we have had with it is some binding, but not as severe as you described. We're in salt water, boat's in the water 24/7/365. Our solution is a regular spraying of Sailkote on the cars. Regular is probably quarterly. The mainsail goes up relatively easily and drops like a brick. When it doesn't, we know it's time to again spray the Sailkote, and afterward it's like brand new. Going up the mast doesn't seem necessary, since if the cars are lubricated, they'll be going up and down and doing that for you. There's nothing up there to clean that the cars don't do themselves. We also have a fully battened mainsail with the cars. Never had a problem with them. I assume your vang was off, the mainsheet loose and all reefing lines were clear when you had your problem. You may also want to carefully check the track(s). It's not one long piece, but usually a few of them. If one of them is just a teeny bit offset from the next one where they meet, it's like having one of the railroad tracks out of line, and that is a cause for binding as th cars go over the joint. We had one joint that was within reach of the deck and so just used a file to flatten out the rough edge. I really like our system, compared to the regular slot on other smaller boats we've had and others of our size. Good luck. Hope this helps. Stu
Robert We have one on our Catalina 34. The only problem we have had with it is some binding, but not as severe as you described. We're in salt water, boat's in the water 24/7/365. Our solution is a regular spraying of Sailkote on the cars. Regular is probably quarterly. The mainsail goes up relatively easily and drops like a brick. When it doesn't, we know it's time to again spray the Sailkote, and afterward it's like brand new. Going up the mast doesn't seem necessary, since if the cars are lubricated, they'll be going up and down and doing that for you. There's nothing up there to clean that the cars don't do themselves. We also have a fully battened mainsail with the cars. Never had a problem with them. I assume your vang was off, the mainsheet loose and all reefing lines were clear when you had your problem. You may also want to carefully check the track(s). It's not one long piece, but usually a few of them. If one of them is just a teeny bit offset from the next one where they meet, it's like having one of the railroad tracks out of line, and that is a cause for binding as th cars go over the joint. We had one joint that was within reach of the deck and so just used a file to flatten out the rough edge. I really like our system, compared to the regular slot on other smaller boats we've had and others of our size. Good luck. Hope this helps. Stu
track lub
Stu Jackson, Thanks for your reply. But I don't think that constantly spraying a lube on the cars is the ultimate answer. At some point there has to be a build up of dirt and debris on the torrolon ball bearings which will require their replacement. That is the problem we had dirt build up. A track cleaner would be more efficent.
Stu Jackson, Thanks for your reply. But I don't think that constantly spraying a lube on the cars is the ultimate answer. At some point there has to be a build up of dirt and debris on the torrolon ball bearings which will require their replacement. That is the problem we had dirt build up. A track cleaner would be more efficent.
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