Sail Track

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

I was talking to someone here who put sailtracks on their multi piece aluminum masts. This would make reefing a lot easier with halyards and downhauls. Please post the process you went through for attaching the tracks to the masts...especially where the masts change diameter. Pictures would be great too!

[Brent]

Joe, I posted a note showing the method I used to connect sail track to the nested aluminum masts back on Nov 20. Let me try linking to it here: http://www.messing-about.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1658

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

Thanks...that helps. I was invisioning a more complicated solution (aluminum shims, etc.). That looks great.

Did you install a cunningham in addition to the up/downhauls?

Keep those pictures of sailing coming...they are an inspiration.

Thanks,

Joe

[Brent]

My boat has cunninghams as well as halyards. The sail shape gets tweaked by the cunningham, much easier than playing with a halyard under load.

[MikeM]

Brent,

I am planning on installing an external sail track on my three piece aluminum masts. I understand that you permanently connected your tubing together. I have several questions. 1st, what type of metal did you use for the track itself, e.g., aluminum, stainless, etc? What are the dimensions of the track? What type of sliders did you use? Did you purchase them or make them? Finally, how has your sail track performed?

Mike Mochan

[Brent]

Mike,

I investigated building sail tracks from aluminum or stainless extrusions. It gets complicated; which extrusion to use, which heat treatment, keeping weight low while keeping sufficient strength.

I opted for the easy out and bought Schaeffer 5/8 inch sail track. All I had to do was tell my sailmaker (Graham) that I was using this track, and he knew what do for the slides.

The track comes in 6 foot and 12 foot lengths. I wanted the minimum number of joints in the track, but the 12 footers dont ship by UPS. So I found a local power boat dealer who has access to the BoatsUS wholesale network, allowing me to order the 12 footers at catalog price and get free delivery to his shop in town.

When installing the track make an alignment tool out of wood that will keep the ends of the track in tight alignment.

The tracks work great.

[Brent]

The goal of an alignment tool is to make sure the sail slugs will slide smoothly over the joints in the sail track sections. The Shaeffer sail track is made of stamped stainless plate maybe 3/32" thick. When attached to the mast, the edges of the track ends up sitting maybe 1/8" from the mast.

What worked for me was two lengths of 3/4" stock, maybe 12-16" long, with a 1/8" slot cut about 1/8" from the edge. The edges of the sail track slip into and bottom out in the slot. By clamping a piece of stock on each side of the track and bridging over the joint, you get a pretty fair chance having a well lined up track.