Materials and methods for attaching tracks to masts?

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

Dale,

I used stainless pop rivets...1/4" grip range for most and 1/2" in the transition areas.  You will need about 200 for a CS20.

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

Took her out yesterday with the new sails.  She sails great!  Bad news is that I didnt file the tracks enough.  I tried one slide at home and it moved nicely.  The combined friction of all the slides was too much and the sails didnt move up or down smoothly.  I think I will take a dremel to the tracks to relieve some of the friction..then maybe add some wax to the tracks?

[Designer]

In my hurry to finish Southern skimmer I did not file the tracks at all. I could not hoist the sails past half way. We filed down the tracks and and polished the edges with emery paper and Tom put on his patented hot wax treatment and the sails hoist perfectly now.

I am sure that Mc Lube works great too, but I think that the first order is to smooth the track. I am afraid that the Dremel could make it worse. I see it at best making the track wavy. It is not too hard to file the track on the mast, you can use a protective shield between the mast and the track for filing the under edge.

It is good to hear that she is sailing great.

[Dale Niemann]

Joe said: "Took 200 rivets for the tracks and all the hardware."

Joe/Graham,

The SS tracks I got from Graham have predrilled holes 2 3/4 inches apart. 

Did you put a rivet in every hole that had alum mast behind it?

Thanks,

Dale

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

I did use every hole that was in the tracks...plus added extra holes at the butt joints to aid in holding in alignment.

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

What needs to be filed on the tracks?  What seemed to do the most go was to sand them down to a polished finish.  I also used some stuff sold for coating the table saw table on the tracks.  That seemed to make as big a difference as anything I did.  The hoist reasonably well now.

[Designer]

Joe,

The edges of the track are cut with a shear which makes them a bit ragged. You just need to run a file along the top and bottom edges to remove the burr. The under side is a bit harder to file once the track is installed on the mast. 

[Tom Lathrop]

I use beeswax to lubricate any stainless to stainless rubbing parts.  I did this on Southern Skimmer after the tracks were filed by heating the track slightly with a torch and just running a piece of beeswax along the track edge.  Other lubricants will wash off or melt away in sunlight while beeswax stays there.  Works great on stainless turnbuckles or stainless cable that rubs on anything.

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

Tom,

Thanks for the tip!