Sail track stop for rope luff sail

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nbergma

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Jun 30, 2012
3
Catalina 22 Millerton Lake
We are new sailors and new owners of a 1976 C22 whose mainsail has a rope luff. It does not have the plastic or nylon track guides I've seen on some other sailboats. Can a sail track stop even be used with our sail? If so, is the 7/16 size flat track stop the correct one to use? We tried the 1/2 inch round stop and it's too big to fit into the slot.

Thanks in advance for your advice.
 
Chris Patterson

Chris Patterson

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Oct 17, 2011
2,809
Ericson 29 Southport..
Yeah, 7/16" would be a little too tight in there. I make them out of 3/8" round aluminum stock, and then drill and tap about a 10-24 thread in it. However...
It might not help you. The rope luffed sail will just bunch up in the slot, and probably wouldn't really do much, as there is just too much "material" in the slot itself. With slugs, they stack on top of each other, while the sail flakes on the boom. With that type sail, it's either up; or off. The upside is, is it's a great performance sail, giving nice, tight luff tensions.
 
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Barnacle Bill

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Jun 9, 2008
1,847
- -- -Bayfield
Davis makes a sail stop, but you might want to have slugs installed into your luff by your local sailmaker to facilitate it better.
 
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paphman

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Sep 21, 2005
297
Catalina 22 Henderson Bay, NY
The best and safest thing to do is have a sailmaker install sail slugs on your main. I had a Rhodes 19, 40 years ago that came with a bolt rope. To say that it was a pain would be the under statement of the year. I sailed the first year with it and that was it. Also if you have to reef, the bolt rope is a disaster. Do your self a favor, and get sail slugs put on. Then put mast gates on the mast and you will be all set to go.

Dale
 
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Joe

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,306
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
nbergma said:
We are new sailors and new owners of a 1976 C22 whose mainsail has a rope luff. It does not have the plastic or nylon track guides I've seen on some other sailboats. Can a sail track stop even be used with our sail? If so, is the 7/16 size flat track stop the correct one to use? We tried the 1/2 inch round stop and it's too big to fit into the slot.

Thanks in advance for your advice.
Click to expand
Why do you want a sail stop for your bolt rope system? The sail stop is a device to keep the sail slugs from falling out of the mast gate when the sail is dropped, for reefing... or flaking on the boom for storage.

A bolt rope will not allow the sail to be dropped and stay attached to the mast at the same time.... to reef you need to simply pull the necessary amount of sail out of the gate and secure the reef cringle... to flake, fold sail sections on the boom as you pull the bolt rope out of the gate....then secure with sail ties. Here's a picture of a NewYork 36 that uses a bolt rope with the sail ready to hoist.
 

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nbergma

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Jun 30, 2012
3
Catalina 22 Millerton Lake
Excellent answers everyone. Personally I couldn't see how a track stop could work with a bolt rope mainsail but an employee at the marina with decades of sailing experience is the one who suggested it so I thought I would ask. It seems pretty clear that unless I install sail slugs on the mainsail there's no point in having a track stop.

Thanks everyone who replied.
 
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Barry B.

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Feb 28, 2005
184
Catalina 22 1909 North East, Md.
You can add sail slugs

You can put Sail Slugs to your sail yourself, it is so easy it can be done in a couple hours. They are available from West Marine or Sailrite, you need 10 slugs and 10 shackles, place the shackles through the loop on the slug, than wrap the open end of the shackle over your mainsail's bolt rope and put the screw into the shackle and screw it right through the sail and tighten the shackle, thats all there is to it. I did this upgrade to my Main Sail over 15 years ago and have never had any problems with them. I also installed mast gates and that was also a big improvement.

Bainbridge / Aquabatten, Plastic Sail Slug, 5/16" Diameter, MFG Part # - A016, Sailrite # - [FONT=&quot]23307[/FONT], WM Model # - 2690840.


Bainbridge / Aquabatten, Plastic Shackle, Wide, 5/8" Inside Length, MFG Part # - A030W, Sailrite # - [FONT=&quot]24105[/FONT], WM Model # - 2690964.

Here are the links to these product listings on Sailrite's site, there are also PDF instructions, and video instructions on these pages.

http://www.sailrite.com/Screw-on-Plastic-Shackle-5-8

http://www.sailrite.com/Slug-Nylon-Round-5-16
 

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