I'm considering the purchase of a Tides Marine Sailtrack to make hoisting my mainsail easier. Does anyone have any experience with it good or bad?
Tides Marine Sailtrack
- Thread starter Prime Time
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Some experience
The J-40 I crew on has the Tides. It's unbelievably friction-free. You can't just let go of the halyard to douse because it comes down that fast. Really robust cars.
It's going on my boat this year when I replace the main. I like that I can do it myself.
The J-40 I crew on has the Tides. It's unbelievably friction-free. You can't just let go of the halyard to douse because it comes down that fast. Really robust cars.
It's going on my boat this year when I replace the main. I like that I can do it myself.
Re: Some experience
On our 1977 Islander 28, we agreed it was the best money we ever spent on the boat. It made raising and lowering the main a breeze, even our 9 yr old grandson could easily handle the task. It put the fun back into using the main, and yes, when we let go the halyard, it would drop like a rock in an instant. You will be dancing jigs on the cabintop every time you raise and lower your mainsail!
On our 1977 Islander 28, we agreed it was the best money we ever spent on the boat. It made raising and lowering the main a breeze, even our 9 yr old grandson could easily handle the task. It put the fun back into using the main, and yes, when we let go the halyard, it would drop like a rock in an instant. You will be dancing jigs on the cabintop every time you raise and lower your mainsail!
Ditto all the above opinions. However, I find that I still need to head into the wind and it helps to have the main fluttering a bit. I have a full battened large roach main. The track still gets a little dirty which does slow it down, but the system is so much better than the original slugs in the mast that I recommend it highly. And, yes, with the main fluttering, the sail drops like a rock!
We had one installed on our new Doyle mainsail this year and we really like it. We have a Legend 37.5 which (as everyone knows) has a very large mainsail. It is a major improvement and highly recommended. The hardware is very well made and robust, and the special plastic they use for the track is super slick.
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