Cleaning mast slot

DannyB

DannyB

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How do people do it ? I'm thinking of tying a piece of sponge to the halyard, and jamming it in the slot, with water and fairy liquid on the sponge I could haul it up the slot. I'd obviously need a downhaul as well.
Any better ideas ? The mast is still up.
 
My experience is that the only certain way of cleaning it is to go to the top of the mast and slowly work your way back down, forcing an old wet tea towel with flash or sugar soap on it into the slot.
 
We use a slightly smaller mast slider ,wrapped in fluffy upholstery fabric .We sew it over the slide to fix it .
..Tie a small pair of loops of string around the slide .Top and bottom .One for attaching halyard and lower one for down haul .Then you can use your chosen cleaner .Hauling it up and down .
If the groove is rough inside ,use a cut up scotch brite pad instead ,this will get rid of crusty dirt ,washing up liquid is a good cleaner and lube .
It's a slow process doing this way but saves going aloft if you are unsure of halyard attached at the top.
When clean and dry use a dry Teflon lube ,or Mac Lube .Doesn't stain sail cloth .
 
I use a similar method for washing the headsail foil. I wrap a sponge round and hoist with the halyard. You have to be careful to make sure that the tie doesn't tighten when the downhaul is used, otherwise you will need to go up the mast to retrieve it. I can verify the last statement.

For the mast slot, I go up the mast. Unless the mast is lowered, I feel that one should do this annually anyway, so I haul a bucket up and wash down at the same time.
 
wilkinsonsails said:
We use a slightly smaller mast slider ,wrapped in fluffy upholstery fabric .We sew it over the slide to fix it .
..Tie a small pair of loops of string around the slide .Top and bottom .One for attaching halyard and lower one for down haul .Then you can use your chosen cleaner .Hauling it up and down .
If the groove is rough inside ,use a cut up scotch brite pad instead ,this will get rid of crusty dirt ,washing up liquid is a good cleaner and lube .
It's a slow process doing this way but saves going aloft if you are unsure of halyard attached at the top.
When clean and dry use a dry Teflon lube ,or Mac Lube .Doesn't stain sail cloth .
Click to expand...
I do something like this, on various boats from dinghies upwards.
Cheap aerosol furniture wax is a good remover of grime, and lubricant.
 
I made a device out of a small piece of aluminium plate with a rolled over edge that fits nicely in the mast slot. It has a hole at the top for the halyard and another at the bottom for a downhaul. I then cut a section out of the rolled edge just big enough to hold a tampon (they make them in various sizes you know....) All you have to do is hoist this up and down the mast several times with a variety of cleaning agents and lubricants in a new tampon each time.
 
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