Boltrope main how to convert to slugs?

[DangerousPirate]

Hi, with my new boat (nicholson 30) I noticed it's a pain in the after to raise, lower and flake the main. Especially alone. It was a HUGE effort. And when I prepared the boat for on the mooring I didn't get to flake the sail properly to fit in the sailcover again, gave up after half an hour (I had places to be) and just rolled the main up and threw it below deck. Jeez.

I'd like sail slugs on it and just wanted a little info on that. What's the best system? I will be handling the big boy on my own for presumably 99% of the time.

 

[William_H]

Slugs are essentially attached around the bolt rope. On smaller boats they are just nylon slugs but on bigger sails have a roller arrangement especially at the ends of full length battens. You will need a cover that is shaped to rise up at the mast to cover the stack of sail still in the mast.
The other thing to watch for is that you probably already have a slug in the top of the sail in line with bolt rope and in place of bolt rope. This is essential to hold sail in mast track when you reef. You will need to move this slug out in some way to put it in line with the new slugs. Like wise you might need to move the tack attachment out by the amount that the new slugs move the sail aft from the mast.
You want a pull from halyard to tack attach (at the gooseneck) in perfect line so there is no pull outwards or inwards on the intermediate slugs.
Then also you need to make arrangements for the slugs to stay in the track when sail is down but to be able to release slugs when you reef. (I would not fit slugs in the area of the first reef)
ol'will

 

[jamie N]

I use these which are easy, cheap, safe and reversible if they don't suit. They're attached by a screw on plastic fitting, and have been utterly reliable from day one.
The only mod is to have a stopper at the bottom of the luff groove, so the slugs don't leave the groove; this will almost certainly be as close to the gooseneck as it can be. For this I use a bungee as it's easy, cheap, safe and reversible!
On my Folkboat I've the lowest one at the level of the lower reef 'tack', and the highest by the head board, spaced a metre apart on my 9 metre(ish) luff.
To fit them took under an hour, which is with a bit of unnecessary nervous faffing, as it's very simple to do and transforms setting the sail, as there's not the difficulty with having to feed the luff rope etc.etc...

 

[dunedin]

Good advice above - I would just add that once these are fitted, if 99% singlehanded as you said, I would suggest considering adding a stack pack sail cover. The sail should simply drop into this, brief tidy up and zip up. Transforms sail handling.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I converted the main on my Leisure 17 to slugs which was much more convenient to use. You can get the fittings from a rigger (or get him to do it for you.)
I sent in a little article to PBO magazine on how to do it but it was in 2005.
I punched in brass eyelets and used nylon slugs and shackles. The other thing was to drill through the mast track at the bottom and put a split pin to stop the sliders dropping out.
You'd need something more meaty on a 30 footer. Well worth doing though.

 

[PeterV]

I’ve just had a new mainsail with slugs to replace the old bolt rope main On my 29’ boat. It was a simple job to replace the sail feed on the mast to a gate which retains the slugs. I also sail mainly single handed so it’s made things much easier.

 

[Nigel_Ward]

Sailright do some good videos on YouTube showing the different types of slug attachment methods.
I had the main on my Beneteau 235 converted to slugs. The sailmaker just put braid through the slugs and stitched either side of the bolt rope.
One advantage of this method is that it is very easy to move one slug if it is in the wrong position.
One problem I had is the entry point on the mast was higher for the bolt rope than for slug entry and I could not find a commercial fitting so I had to make a closing piece of track as the slugs need to slide past it.

 

[DangerousPirate]

Good advice above - I would just add that once these are fitted, if 99% singlehanded as you said, I would suggest considering adding a stack pack sail cover. The sail should simply drop into this, brief tidy up and zip up. Transforms sail handling.

There already seems to be one with the boat, also lazyjacks. And there are sail slugs (the one mentioned by Jamie N actually). So I just assume the previous owner didn't get around to fit them.

On the other hand; There is a feeder for the boltrope attached to the mast. Hm.

What is the best way to get these slugs on? Do I just sew them on? Jamie said something about screws? And in what sort of distance do I install these?

 

[Stemar]

On my old boat, there were eyelets in the sail that the plastic clips went through. You could do that, or just sew them on with lots of tough thread but, in either case, I think I'd sew a couple of inches of tape on either side of the sail to reinforce it. The slugs were about a 18" apart, IIRC. That boat's gone and I haven't examined the sails on the new one yet.

 

[jamie N]

Mine are screw in, and have been on the sail for 5-6 years without any sign of wear.
In fact mine are '2 screw', so slightly different, but I couldn't find a picture of one.

 

[JimC]

What is the best way to get these slugs on? Do I just sew them on? Jamie said something about screws? And in what sort of distance do I install these?

I use plastic sail shackles going through eyelets in the sail. You can get these shackles in two types: screw closure and snap closure. Whatever you use it should allow some free articulation such that the luff can twist relative to the mast. When the sail is up the luff is in line with the mast. When the sail is flaked down on the boom the luff is close to being at right angles to the mast. Getting this right is key to having a sail that will flake down smoothly and neatly into the stack pack or whatever.

 

[DangerousPirate]

Mine are screw in, and have been on the sail for 5-6 years without any sign of wear.
In fact mine are '2 screw', so slightly different, but I couldn't find a picture of one.

That looks very easy to do. But I am not sure how well that will hold, or if it might rip the sails?

 

[jamie N]

It hasn't with mine in 5-6 years, or shown ANY signs of abnormal wear. I'd also suggest that having bought them from an established 'yottie' company, with them being generally available is a pretty good recommendation as well.
Ghostlymoron in post #5 used brass eyelets, which are readily available also, and are simple to use.
Best of luck!

 

[Daydream believer]

On my Folkboat I've the lowest one at the level of the lower reef 'tack', and the highest by the head board, spaced a metre apart on my 9 metre(ish) luff.

I would not recommend having a slider next to the reef point. This is because any over tensioning ( due to halyard tension flexing etc) will want to crush the sliders below it thus putting pressure on the mast gate. ( One does not take the sliders out of the groove when reefing)
It also restricts how low the luff can be brought down. Then if the sail is opposite a slider it means that the tension on the clew will be pulling on this slider & could well break it when reefing.
The optimum is to have the sliders spaced with the reef point in the middle of 2 of them. Then the sail will have a spectacle set in the luff such that it can be pulled down past the stack of sails. If you do not have single line reefing then one eye of the spectacle can be hooked to a horn. It just means that the webbing between the rings should be sewn to a suitable length ( not too long so the sail does not move aft when reefing) to allow this. Alternatively a downhaul line can be attached to the ring.

 

[Daydream believer]

If you want to do them yourself then stitch them around the bolt rope with some space between slider & rope. The sail will not tear because the load is on the rope & you can make sure that you do a number of the stitches through the rope itself.
The top slider needs to be a decent metal one with a good curved face, vertically, where it sits in the luff groove . It will have a tendancy to tilt & you do not want it to jam, hence the curved face.

 

[garymalmgren]

Hi Dangerous Pirate.
You have identified two problem.
it's a pain in the after to raise, lower and flake the main.
And then request information in sail slugs.

These two problem will have two different solutions.
Firstly, raising and lowering. I am assuming that you have a boltrope fitted and are not satisfied with it.
I suggest sticking with the boltrope and cleaning up the mast track so it runs smoothly.
I have a boltrope and the reason that I like it is that I just have to feed the first 6 inches into the mast track and haul away. With slugs you have to feed, haul, then feed the next and haul and then the next. Slow and bothersome.

Cleaning the mast track.
The mast track can become restricted by salt, sand or some other build up.
To both clean and check the condition of an internal track I highly recommend making a simple track cleaner.

You need about a foot of rough cleaning rope that fits the track pretty snuggly.
Parallel to the rope you whip on a piece of lighter line that is 2 or 3 inches longer at each end (See Pic 1).
There should be an eye in each end of the lighter line.
The whipping will make the diameter of the rough cleaning rope even snugger in the track.
Connect the main halyard to one eye and feed cleaning rope into track. (See Pic 2)
Connect a light down haul line to the bottom eye.(See Pic 3)
Haul up a yard or so and haul down a few times then repeat as you raise the line up the track.
Pay attention to the spot where you think the sail is binding.
When you have cleaned the whole track haul the cleaning rope down , spray it with track lubricant (silicone spray) and repeat the haul up/down to lube the complete track. Will take 30 minutes to make the cleaner and 30 minutes to clean and lube the track. I do it once a year as a part of maintenance.
This will solve the it's a pain in the after to raise, lower problem.

As for I didn't get to flake the sail properly to fit in the sailcover again, gave up after half an hour

Slugs will not solve this problem.
Do you have lazy jacks?
If not fit some.
If so, make sure that they are rigged properly.


All the best

gary

 

[DangerousPirate]

Hi Dangerous Pirate.
You have identified two problem.
it's a pain in the after to raise, lower and flake the main.
And then request information in sail slugs.

These two problem will have two different solutions.
Firstly, raising and lowering. I am assuming that you have a boltrope fitted and are not satisfied with it.
I suggest sticking with the boltrope and cleaning up the mast track so it runs smoothly.
I have a boltrope and the reason that I like it is that I just have to feed the first 6 inches into the mast track and haul away. With slugs you have to feed, haul, then feed the next and haul and then the next. Slow and bothersome.

Cleaning the mast track.
The mast track can become restricted by salt, sand or some other build up.
To both clean and check the condition of an internal track I highly recommend making a simple track cleaner.

You need about a foot of rough cleaning rope that fits the track pretty snuggly.
Parallel to the rope you whip on a piece of lighter line that is 2 or 3 inches longer at each end (See Pic 1).
There should be an eye in each end of the lighter line.
The whipping will make the diameter of the rough cleaning rope even snugger in the track.
Connect the main halyard to one eye and feed cleaning rope into track. (See Pic 2)
Connect a light down haul line to the bottom eye.(See Pic 3)
Haul up a yard or so and haul down a few times then repeat as you raise the line up the track.
Pay attention to the spot where you think the sail is binding.
When you have cleaned the whole track haul the cleaning rope down , spray it with track lubricant (silicone spray) and repeat the haul up/down to lube the complete track. Will take 30 minutes to make the cleaner and 30 minutes to clean and lube the track. I do it once a year as a part of maintenance.
This will solve the it's a pain in the after to raise, lower problem.

As for I didn't get to flake the sail properly to fit in the sailcover again, gave up after half an hour

Slugs will not solve this problem.
Do you have lazy jacks?
If not fit some.
If so, make sure that they are rigged properly.


All the best

gary

Thanks you for your reply, I really enjoy how you put so much effort into it with all the nice pictures

Still think slugs would solve my problem, because slugs stay in the track with a stopper, and you don't have to feed the sail every time you want to raise it. Just undo the sailcover and haul away. I had this on my previous boats, which was really convenient.

Flaking is also easier because the slugs are in the track, and you can pull on them to straighten each flake. Super easy, very convenient. The lazy jacks I have did help a lot with handling the sail, but I couldn't flake the sail nicely and especially not flat enough to fit in the cover. I could flake the luff end, but then I had problems cleaning up the rest of the sail. With slugs you just pull left, right, left, right and flake the luff, and then walk aft to pull the leech. Very simple, super easy.

I will, however, steal your cleaning rope and implement it on my boat, as that is really nice. I used rags before and think a rope in the right diameter would make things a lot easier.

 

[jamie N]

I would not recommend having a slider next to the reef point. This is because any over tensioning ( due to halyard tension flexing etc) will want to crush the sliders below it thus putting pressure on the mast gate. ( One does not take the sliders out of the groove when reefing)

On my Folkboat, this isn't the case. The lowest slider is at the level of the 1st reef point and doesn't come out of the luff groove, as I extended this to just above the gooseneck.

There's no mast gate to crush against as the slugs are retained in the mast track by a bungee to simply stop them from falling out. The 1st reef clew can go no lower than the gooseneck and is operated by a downhaul; far easier than horns for a single hander as DB stated.
I do believe that there are many different ways of 'doing it right', as is being demonstrated in these posts.

 

[Daydream believer]

On my Folkboat, this isn't the case. The lowest slider is at the level of the 1st reef point and doesn't come out of the luff groove, as I extended this to just above the gooseneck.

I think that you are discounting the point that the OP has a Nicholson 30, not a smaller Folkboat