Cover the Slot in the Main Track

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On my shakedown cruise we shook the little track-stop out of the track. Just an $8 "Thunk - KerPlunk".

I heard the sound but didn't know what exactly fell off until we were testing my two-line reefing setup, at which point the main started falling out of the slot and making a mess (in the middle of SF Bay blowing 25 knots.)
Rather than buy a new track-stop, I decided to go with a more permanent solution that would also let the tack fall lower in the track when reefing.

I took some 1/8 inch thick fiberglass laminate from McMaster-Carr, and cut a small 1/8 inch wide strip, which was then epoxied onto a larger strip. It's painted with Interlux Single Part Polyurethane to match the mast.

The small strip fits exactly into the cut-out on the mainsail track, to fill the slot and keep the slugs from falling out.

I drilled and tapped the mast, and mounted the strips using 316 machine screws. All of my mast hardware is insulated with Tef-Gel. Expensive stuff! However, I've been told that it's the absolute best for preventing galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals.

Here are pictures of
the final job.

It should come off easily if I need to take the main off... but that's not something you do often!

The whole idea of making it from Fiberglass is a bit novel -- I just was too lazy to make it out of aluminum and go through the whole Acid Wash/Primer/Paint
process.
I want to go sailing.
If it breaks, I'll fix it.

(Low batteries in my camera again! It really affects picture quality!)

Update July 2002 --
I added a third screw in the middle, as the fiberglass flexed too much and let the slugs slip out. After that, it's worked perfectly!

Update May 2003 -
After new sails are on, the new slugs are giving me a hard time. So I'm taking the gate and making it narrower. It's easy -- I laid three layers of Knytex tape down and rolled epoxy thickened with colloidal silica into them, then sanded the paint off the inside of the gate and stuck it onto the fabric.

(I'm still going to get different slugs, but this little fix will let me keep sailing in the meantime.)

I cut it into shape with my Handy Dremel Tool, then ground it down with my bench belt sander and painted.

Note the ends are faired down to let the slugs slide
on and off the mast track.

That's not actually the problem, of course,
I need to replace the slugs...