Do you lube your mast track?

[jwilson]

Try Mclube Sailkote, (spray can, looks like GT80) handy for making anything that should move, move better

Dries quick so it doesn't attract dirt

+1 McLube very good indeed, also it does not significantly stain sails. Serious skiff racers coat their entire gennakers with it, to make them slide easily through the chute and shed water ( water is heavy and slows you down! )

Really cheap furniture polish sprays work too, but not as well or cleanly. Don't use quality furniture polish with waxes.

 

[maxi77]

I use the same but I would not call it cheap!

I bought mine a few years ago and am still using it, whilst the fancy yachty stuff that cost 3 times as much has long expired and never did a really good job. To me it was cheap and has well rewarded it's purchase.

 

[davidej]

I am against grease of any kind - whether is is vaseline, silicone or whatever.

We use teflon aerosol spray. The bottom couple of metres re the most inportant. One can is enough for several applications.

 

[lw395]

For sails with luff ropes, a cheap furniture polish seems to work well.
It soaks into the luff rope leaving it more slippery, as well as waxing the slot.
If you can run a rag up the groove, soaked in polish, it will remove a lot of grime too.
We use the cheap silicone spray on spinnakers etc.

 

[prv]

Do you lube your mast track? If so what with?

Mutton tallow

have you got plastic sliders or a bolt rope?

Steamed-ash mast hoops

Pete

 

[wotayottie]

Go along to your local engineers sundries man and buy a can either of silicone or better of PTFE. At a guess MacLube is the same stuff anyway.

 

[VicS]

Go along to your local engineers sundries man and buy a can either of silicone or better of PTFE. At a guess MacLube is the same stuff anyway.

See my earlier links to silicone and ptfe sprays at Toolstation

 

[Ruffles]

Pledge polish

 

[Boathook]

Mr Sheen (other polishes are available!) and plastic slides. Application at start of season and about halfway through as the main is being hoisted.

 

[CreakyDecks]

I gave my mast track a good cleaning when it was down over winter, greased the sheaves and replaced the halyard and things seem a lot easier now. It also seems to help a lot to raise the boom a bit with the topping lift before trying to hoist or lower the sail.

 

[rivonia]

We use a teflon spray which is a dry lubricant it works realy well. Our sliders are plastic/nylon apart from the batten ends these are s/s. We also raise the boom about a foot with the topping lift and the sail goes up easy by hand.

all the best

Peter

 

[BAtoo]

Yes, every year at least, silicone spray of some sort, works a dream. Squirt liberally over the slides and in the groove as high as I can reach.

 

[BarryH]

Silicon spray seems to be the way to go, thats good. I use the stuff by the gallon at work. I'll squirt it up the mast track and hope it improves. Cheers.

 

[DipperToo]

Try Mclube Sailkote, (spray can, looks like GT80) handy for making anything that should move, move better

Dries quick so it doesn't attract dirt

+1 - just also sprayed the sheeves at the masthead which now turn almost by blowing on them. Also spray the sliders immediately before hoisting the main - amazing stuff.

 

[srah1953]

just yesterday, cleaned slides and applied Turbo gel. While I still can't get main all the way up by hand, I've never seen it come down so fast.

 

[Hydra]

Natural lubricant

I put a few drops of olive oil on a piece of absorbent paper, which I press in the groove between the 2 topmost plastic sliders before hoisting the sail.

It works for a few weeks before the rain washes the oil away.

Alain

 

[Habebty]

I have found an aerosol can of something industrial call "Slip" in my garage. It says it is silicone rather than silicon.

i can never remember the difference - does it matter?

cheers

 

[VicS]

I have found an aerosol can of something industrial call "Slip" in my garage. It says it is silicone rather than silicon.

i can never remember the difference - does it matter?

cheers

Yes it ceratinly does matter.

Silicon is a hard non metallic element. The second most abundant in fact. It occurs as silica and as silicates in many rocks and minerals.
It is used as an alloying element in alloys of various metals and in microelectronics.
It has no lubricating properties and is quite unsuitable for surgical implants

Silicones are organic silicon compounds which find a wide variety of uses including as lubricants, polishes, synthetic rubbers, electrical insulators, the filling for surgical implants etc etc.

 

[temptress]

McLube Sailkote on the Harken mast track cars, the bolt-rope on the Genoa luff, Jib cars, traveler and anything else that moves!r

 

[greggron]

PTFE spray seems enerirely adequate for me