Fun with genoa track
I added genoa track about a year ago and it's great. To be consistent with the stock hardware on the boat, I used Schaefer gear but you can certainly use anything you want. The hardest part is putting the track down. I bought four-foot lengths and had to cut about 5 inches off the aft end of each piece where it overhung the non-skid. The holes for the track are about 4 inches apart, so you're looking at 12 or 13 holes per track. The holes for the end caps should not be drilled all the way through. The other holes should be oversize so they can be plugged inside the cabin overhead and filled with epoxy. It will take several attempts because the wood core soaks up a lot of epoxy and some plugs will leak. When the epoxy has cured, tape the track to the deck and drill the holes out again. This time they will be in the epoxy and you will never get water in the core. Again, don't drill the holes for the end caps all the way through. If you hold these down with self-tapping screws instead of through-bolts it's easy to replace the caps (they suffer from sun damage and break eventually). Mask everywhere on the track and deck where you don't want any sealant, apply the caulk and bolt the track down lightly with all the bolts. When the caulk cures, tighten the nuts from inside the cabin without turning the bolts. Slide the genoa cars on, add the end caps and you're done. It is really cool to slide the cars forward or aft as needed to power up or depower the jib. Similarly, you can adjust the main with the traveler, mainsheet and adjustable backstay and keep sailing when others are either reefing or starting their outboards. It's a bit of work but well worth it at the end. If you haven't been sailing all that long, may I humbly suggest that you concentrate more on sailing the boat as-is than spending time on modifications that you may not be able to exploit fully at this stage. On the advice of a wise friend, I sailed my boat stock for the first three years just so I could figure out how it all worked. Hang in there! Peter H23 "Raven"
I added genoa track about a year ago and it's great. To be consistent with the stock hardware on the boat, I used Schaefer gear but you can certainly use anything you want. The hardest part is putting the track down. I bought four-foot lengths and had to cut about 5 inches off the aft end of each piece where it overhung the non-skid. The holes for the track are about 4 inches apart, so you're looking at 12 or 13 holes per track. The holes for the end caps should not be drilled all the way through. The other holes should be oversize so they can be plugged inside the cabin overhead and filled with epoxy. It will take several attempts because the wood core soaks up a lot of epoxy and some plugs will leak. When the epoxy has cured, tape the track to the deck and drill the holes out again. This time they will be in the epoxy and you will never get water in the core. Again, don't drill the holes for the end caps all the way through. If you hold these down with self-tapping screws instead of through-bolts it's easy to replace the caps (they suffer from sun damage and break eventually). Mask everywhere on the track and deck where you don't want any sealant, apply the caulk and bolt the track down lightly with all the bolts. When the caulk cures, tighten the nuts from inside the cabin without turning the bolts. Slide the genoa cars on, add the end caps and you're done. It is really cool to slide the cars forward or aft as needed to power up or depower the jib. Similarly, you can adjust the main with the traveler, mainsheet and adjustable backstay and keep sailing when others are either reefing or starting their outboards. It's a bit of work but well worth it at the end. If you haven't been sailing all that long, may I humbly suggest that you concentrate more on sailing the boat as-is than spending time on modifications that you may not be able to exploit fully at this stage. On the advice of a wise friend, I sailed my boat stock for the first three years just so I could figure out how it all worked. Hang in there! Peter H23 "Raven"
. if it does i may buy a cat-22 mainsail from atlantic sail traders for $399.00 and be done with it.