Mast track cleaning H216

[Bill Perry]

I recently bought a can of McLube for my mast track. I find that I cannot get all the slack out of the luff when I raise the sail. It is taught near the top but the last 4 or 5 feet are not. I'm thinking that the track is not slick enough (or maybe I'm not as strong as I was fifty years ago). I figured on attaching a line to the halyard and then attaching something at the same point that I would first saturate with alcohol and later with the lubricant. Raising and lowering that device should help. I don't want to reinvent something if any of you have already done this. Thanks.

 

[Paul Wash]

Mast Track

Bill - a few things you may have already tried outside of lube...

Sometimes the top batten in the main catches on the topping lift. Turning course so the wind is slightly starboard when raising alleviates this problem.

Another tactic is raising the boom high (I'm 6' tall so about a forearm length over my head) over the cockpit with the topping lift. Then dropping the topping once the halyard is cleated. That removes any chance for tension in the luff to fight with the weight of the boom. I also use the cleat as a pivot point for the halyard to gain a little leverage on tightening.

Finally, to make it a quick process that I can even do single handed - I use a mast stop and preload the slugs in the mast track. Everything is ready to go as soon as I turn into the wind.

Hope this helps...

 

[Bill Perry]

Re: Mast Track

Paul,

Thanks for the input. I frequently go by myself and in over 10-12 knots, I have my hands full in just getting the sail up and cleated off without the boat having it's way. I am entertaining some sort of scheme to hold the rudder centered which would solve a lot of issues by keeping the boat on the proper heading while I play with all the strings.

 

[Lee C - H31]

I have encountered the same problem occasionally and it is usually because I have too much tension on the bottom of the boom. Similar to what Paul said, I try to be sure the outhaul is loose, main sheet reasonably free, and no tension on reefing lines. On a previous boat the track was gunked up and and the lube did the trick.