Sail slide modification to location

[TQA]

I need to move my top sail slide about 5 inches down from it's current location.

Is there anyway I can do this myself, as getting the main off and dealing with full length battens is a big job?

The grommet looks like it is stainless steel. Are these fitted in the same way as the brass ones. How hard are they to peen over.

What about just sewing the tape to the sail with some heavy duty twine?

Main is on a 44 ft cruising sailboat.

 

[William_H]

Sail slide

Eyelets are set with a specially shaped pair of mandrels. Quite cheap from hardware store. However yes you could just sew the slider on with multiple turns of whipping twine in a fat needle.

A word of warning however. The top slider on a mainsail comes in for huge out ward pulling load when the sail is reefed. You can imagine that full sail with the sail top near the top of the mast the halyard takes much of the load of pull from the end of the boom as you tighten the mainsheet when beating.
My mainsail uses just the bolt rope however i have cut away the head board and fitted (in line with the bolt rope) a metal slider because I operate reefed quite a lot. With a bolt rope you risk having the bolt rope partially pull out of the track and jamb. Using all sliders as you do you risk either deforming the plastic slider or detaching the sail from the slider. Needless to say the lower the top slider the more problem.
I don't know why you need to move it but don't if you can avoid it. good luck olewill

 

[sarabande]

grommets of those sizes in stainless need a lot of power, and you won't be able to join the two sides without a hydraulic press and mandrels (as WH says).

It's normally a sailmakers job off the mast.


For the slide, you will need a lot of re-inforcing tape to spread the load, and it can be done by hand. See LS's recent post on his mainsail repairs for pics of what should be done. Pr4inciple is th esame even though it's a bolt rope.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=323596&highlight=bowness

 

[rotrax]

I have taken a leaf from Sir Alec Rose's book "My Lively Lady." He had trouble in Bluff,NZ, the local sailmaker used small SS shackles. Mine work fine.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I wonder why do you have to move it?

The stainless grommets really need to be put in with a hydraulic press. If you were on a remote island in the Pacific you could have a go at cobbling something together in the way you suggest, but it would only be a stop gap until you got to a sailmaker and had the job done properly.

Grit you teeth and take the mainsail off and get it to a sailmaker?

Its only a few minutes work for them - and you will get a proper job done.

 

[TQA]

Take it to a sailmaker they say!

Ah well I feared that this was going to be the advice.

As I will be in Grenada for hurricane season I guess I will just pick a calmish day, bite the bullet and get on with it.