Pandora 700

[legin026]

Can anyone help. I have a Pandora 700 which at some point in it's life had a second hand mast fitted. The luff groove on the mast begins 14inches above the boom which means that when you drop the main into the lazy jack cover you have to let the luff slugs drop out of the groove. Suggestions please how get round this problem. I have added photos.

 

[johnphilip]

Sounds rather like the mast is for a dinghy type main with no slugs, the bolt rope goes directly into the groove.
My recollection is that our 25ft Hunter Delta had no slugs on the main.
Yes here is the proof, circa 1988 night convoy to Amsterdam, I note the useless radar reflector on the backstay, little did we know back then.
I guess we just lived with the mainsail billowing around when dropped until you get the ties on.

 

[Binman]

As a Pandora owner, I cannot help with the mast problem, but wonder if either boats were fitted with a removable table, the original one?

 

[sailorman]

What make of mast ( originals were Holt Allen ) can you chance the mast track gate to allow the slides to drop past. I have a Kemp ( Selden) mast & did just that.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I may have the wrong end of the stick here but it looks like the mast was designed for roller reefing.

The boom could be raised or lowered as required.

At the bottom of the track is an opening for a slip pin to stop the sail sliding out.

 

[Billows]

Tap a bolt with top protruding into the hole above the black fitting. Put shock cord around mast just above this. This will prevent slugs dropping out and sail billowing when dropped. When tidying away the sail just move the shock cord below the black fitting to allow enough of the slugs to drop out to close the lazy jack cover.

 

[legin026]

Hi all thank you for your responses. The issue really is that the track is too short for the sail which is almost new and correct for the boat. It has slugs that do fit the track correctly. However, if using the lazyjack boom cover, you either leave the pin in place at the bottom of the track and have the sail suspended too high above the boom to fit inside the cover or remove the pin and let the slugs drop out into the cover. Does anyone recognise the track profile from another mast so I can try and get a piece to add in and extend the track?

 

[duncan99210]

The mast was, as long keeler says, designed for a roller reeling boom: you can see where the adjustable track for the boom mount used to be (the line of holes for rivets running through the rams horn mount). The track above for the luff is designed to take a bolt rope, not cars or slugs, hence your problems if your mainsail is fitted with slugs. Looking at the entrance to the slot, you can see it is shaped to allow easy entrance by a bolt rope but is not really designed for slugs. You could just put a pin through the hole in the track just above the block at the bottom once the slugs have been fed through: that'd stop them falling out out of the track but might give you a lot of sail bunched higher up the mast then would be ideal. Otherwise, look to replacing the slugs with a correctly sized bolt rope which would also solve the problem.

 

[rob2]

It's probably true that the original boom was a roller reefing type, though a the use of a sliding gooseneck is perfectly good with other types. So another option would be to reinstate the track so that the gooseneck can be hoisted to the bottom of the sailtrack when packing the main away. A downhaul is also required to adjust the luff tension and this slightly complicates the adjustment of the kicker, as they must be adjusted together. On the plus side, the boom will be higher when the main is in the bag, allowing more headroom in the cockpit. It all depends on what secondhand bits you can find to make modifications.

I would counsel against using a boltrope, although it is more efficient. Feeding the rope into the track on a gusty day or having the whole main land on the deck may be worthwhile for a dedicated racing crew, but a PITA for a short-handed cruiser.

Rob.

 

[Fantasie 19]

I would counsel against using a boltrope, although it is more efficient. Feeding the rope into the track on a gusty day or having the whole main land on the deck may be worthwhile for a dedicated racing crew, but a PITA for a short-handed cruiser.
Rob.

Amen, brother....!