Anyone using towable Barton Genoa Cars?

FullCircle

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I have been looking at their 2:1 and 4:1 cars and towing endstops.
Anyone comment on their use and reliability?
 
Using 25 mm towed cars on Miss Grace. Quite happy with them. Replaced pin stop Goiot cars. They can be moved under load but need winching when the genny is loaded heavily.

Roller bearing cars would have been better, but more expensive and needed new tracks.
 
Towable Jib sheet cars

I have only sailed on one boat with towable cars. The idea being to be able to adjust the for and aft position of the cars from the cockpit. Th9is is very desirable with a furling jib.
The system I have seen uses bungee to pull the cars backward and 2 to one purchase to pull the car forward.
If I remember correctly it is only possible to move the cars with very little load on the jib. With a ton or so of load on the car and track it would take a very good ball bearing system to enable the cars to be moved especially forward even with 4 to 1 tackle.
I suspectt you would be expecting to much to be able to adjust under load. good luck olewill
 
I have been looking at their 2:1 and 4:1 cars and towing endstops.
Anyone comment on their use and reliability?

Have used them for about 8 years to replace the original pin sliders when the pulleys on the originals wore and jammed on their axles.

They require considerable winch-effort to move them under load, but otherwise have been totally successful.
 
I have only sailed on one boat with towable cars. The idea being to be able to adjust the for and aft position of the cars from the cockpit. Th9is is very desirable with a furling jib.
The system I have seen uses bungee to pull the cars backward and 2 to one purchase to pull the car forward.
If I remember correctly it is only possible to move the cars with very little load on the jib. With a ton or so of load on the car and track it would take a very good ball bearing system to enable the cars to be moved especially forward even with 4 to 1 tackle.
I suspectt you would be expecting to much to be able to adjust under load. good luck olewill

Not Barton, but Harken 4:1 towable ballbearing. Can be adjusted under full load hard on the wind, with laminate racing sails on a 37 foot cruiser racer, and with a roller furling cruiser laminates on a 40 footer. In certain conditons the car is barely ever still when racing.

Excellent bit of kit.
 
You might also want to take a look at the Rutgerson equivalent. A neater design in my opinion, as the turning blocks of the car/endstop are integrated in the units, rather than added on. I've had mine for the last five years, function well in action.
My only complain would be the use of s/s allen bolts on the endstops, should have been torx or hex heads, considering the force you sometimes must use to unscrew a stainless bolt out of an aluminium fitting.
I agree with comments above: Not adjustable under load, at least not forward.
 
My genoa is 250 sq ft and the cars have a 2:1 tackle...shett winches happily move them under load even in a true force 5 hard on the wind. Ball earings are the way to go but at several times the cost.

Do the Rutgerson cars fir standard 25 mm T track?
 
I have old Lewmar ball bearing cars, with 4:1 purchase, and can't budge them without easing the sheet and then winching back in when the car has been moved forward. I can't see how the geometry would allow the cars to be moved unless the sheet was stretchy!

I think I am doing it correctly but ready to be told otherwise!
 
Do the Rutgerson cars fir standard 25 mm T track?[/QUOTE]

I'm almost certain they do. My T-track is standard 32 mm – no fitting problems with that size.
 
I have old Lewmar ball bearing cars, with 4:1 purchase, and can't budge them without easing the sheet and then winching back in when the car has been moved forward. I can't see how the geometry would allow the cars to be moved unless the sheet was stretchy!

I think I am doing it correctly but ready to be told otherwise!

Are the balls the right size?

All present and correct?

Is it Lewmar track?
 
Not had them apart, so assume all balls are present and correct. They slide perfectly well with no load.

I just find it impossible to pull them forwards when the full force of a genoa and its sheet are working against them. My point about geometry is that the angle of the sheet in the car becomes less when the cars are forward - the only way this can happen is by changing the shape of the sail, because the sheets don't stretch, and the force is simply too much. It's a 630sq ft genoa, BTW.
 
I have been looking at their 2:1 and 4:1 cars and towing endstops.
Anyone comment on their use and reliability?

I fitted the 2:1 ones on my 28 footer with a big overlap genoa and they've been great. Excellent for powering/depowering the leach and when I change sails setup is a cinch. Gets a bit heavy with a 150% genoa hard on the wind but overall a great improvement; I wouldn't want to go back to old plunger n holes style.
 
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