How to sew sail slides on a boltrope sail?

[DangerousPirate]

I hate sail slugs or slides if you prefer that name.

I much prefer a boltrope sail. Why ? My SR25 has had slugs added to the mainsail and a 'slug-gate' added to mast. When sail is dropped - the slugs bunch up and I have a large volume of bunched up sail at gooseneck. When hoisting - because it has the plastic shackles fixing the slugs - they sometimes jam in the track when they get out of line. Originally the sail was a boltrope and roller reef boom ..... much neater and less to fiddle with to reef the sail. Yes I'm an old fuddy duddy hanger-on of roller reefing.

Funny, because my boat has exactly that set up, there is a permament handle on the mast to roll the boom, but I personally just don't like it at all.

I don't like leaving my cockpit to lower the sail at all, so the new system is supposed to prevent that. I will have the tides marine track, that will allow the sail to just fall down, without issues, and then have a lazy jacks + bag to catch and stow.

The stitch used can be plain stitch through ... and the general layout is to create similar to what you see on seatbelts ... looks like an X with the top and bottom of the X closed by a line of stitches..... you'd be surprised how strong that thread is as it is in shear ....

I think I know what stitch you mean.

 

[Refueler]

I don't like leaving my cockpit to lower the sail at all, so the new system is supposed to prevent that. I will have the tides marine track, that will allow the sail to just fall down, without issues, and then have a lazy jacks + bag to catch and stow.

My main does not 'fall down' on its own .... I still have to go to mast to pull sail fully down.

The stitch ...... starting at one corner of X ... stitches diagonally till complete one leg of X. Then stitch across to start other diagonal down crossing first at halfway point to create the X. Once at end of leg - stitch across to meet original start point. Attached sketch may help. I suggest that the webbing also have a line of stitches making the webbing a closed affair to the slugs slot as well ...
Just my suggestion ... maybe Tide gives illustration or guidance with the gear ??

 

[DangerousPirate]

My main does not 'fall down' on its own .... I still have to go to mast to pull sail fully down.

Well, that is what the new sailtrack is for.

The stitch ...... starting at one corner of X ... stitches diagonally till complete one leg of X. Then stitch across to start other diagonal down crossing first at halfway point to create the X. Once at end of leg - stitch across to meet original start point. Attached sketch may help. I suggest that the webbing also have a line of stitches making the webbing a closed affair to the slugs slot as well ...
Just my suggestion ... maybe Tide gives illustration or guidance with the gear ??

Cheers, looks simple enough. Thought it would be more complicated.

 

[Greenheart]

I haven't read every post as closely as I should, but I had boltrope mainsails on my Osprey and Achilles 24, and always detested the bother of feeding the boltrope into the track whilst hauling on the halyard with the other hand. It was also a tedious process to drop the sail - it didn't drop cleanly but needed tending, all the way down.

Having sewn Allen sliders around the boltropes and blocked the track to stop them dropping out, the sails now flake easily onto the boom.

I sewed the sliders on with very unscientific stitches, using what I think was 12mm or 15mm webbing. I did it diagonally, and doubled each piece of webbing so each slider is held tightly from both above and below, so neither the action of hoisting nor hauling down forces the slider at an angle to the track which might jam it.

I've no memory of reading that that way is best (possibly it was Cindy at Wilkinson Sails? ) or if it was just an inspiration of my own, but anyway, it worked!

 

[Refueler]

I haven't read every post as closely as I should, but I had boltrope mainsails on my Osprey and Achilles 24, and always detested the bother of feeding the boltrope into the track whilst hauling on the halyard with the other hand. It was also a tedious process to drop the sail - it didn't drop cleanly but needed tending, all the way down.

Having sewn Allen sliders around the boltropes and blocked the track to stop them dropping out, the sails now flake easily onto the boom.

I sewed the sliders on with very unscientific stitches, using what I think was 12mm or 15mm webbing. I did it diagonally, and doubled each piece of webbing so each slider is held tightly from both above and below, so neither the action of hoisting nor hauling down forces the slider at an angle to the track which might jam it.

I've no memory of reading that that way is best (possibly it was Cindy at Wilkinson Sails? ) or if it was just an inspiration of my own, but anyway, it worked!

If it works - what's problem ??

 

[Greenheart]

I wasn't describing it as a problem, but as a problem solved, as a possible guide to the OP.

 

[DangerousPirate]

I wasn't describing it as a problem, but as a problem solved, as a possible guide to the OP.

It is a great idea to do it like that. Once I receive my slides, I will try taht.

 

[Greenheart]

Well, I think it depends on the shape and size of the sliders you use. In my case, the slot in each slider was the same length as the breadth of the webbing, and the slider itself is quite short - occupying not more than 20mm length of the track...

...if you're using longer sliders, there'd be less tendency for a sharp upward or downward tug to jam them in the track.

I suspect it's important also to get exactly the right diameter of slider that fits exactly inside the track diameter - the snugger they are, as long as they're not actually jamming, the less danger there is of moving out of vertical within the track.

That's only what I'm assuming from my limited experience. Hope it works for you. ?

 

[Refueler]

I wasn't describing it as a problem, but as a problem solved, as a possible guide to the OP.

Its the English expression at fault there ...... didn't mean it was a problem.