Sliders or bolt rope for mainsail?

[Super_Seven]

In laymans terms what are the differences of these two systems? What are the benefits of either?

 

[snowleopard]

In laymans terms what are the differences of these two systems? What are the benefits of either?

Bolt ropes these days are the province of the racers. They give an efficiency advantage because wind doesn't leak through the gap. Some use them for headsails as well. The difference between them and slides is that slides (or hanks) keep the sail from falling all over the place when lowering and remove the need for a second person to feed the rope in while hoisting. I would go so far as to say bolt ropes have no place on a cruising or short-handed boat. By that I mean the use of bolt ropes to raise and lower the sail routinely. Bolt ropes are used to hold sails onto furling systems but are fed in at the beginning of the season and taken off at the end, never at sea barring emergencies.

I had an unusual mast track in the 70s - the mast was a secondhand one bought from one of Blondie Hasler's odder boats. It had a luff rope track with a slide track inside it so one got pretty much the best of both worlds. It wasn't perfect because the bolt rope had to be helped along sometimes while hoisting and there was friction when lowering. I've never seen one like it since and wouldn't consider one again.

p.s. if a bolt rope pulls out of its track part way along you are in serious trouble. I had a forestay bottlescrew fail in mid ocean and the segments of roller foil separated, jamming the luff rope so I couldn't lower it. I spent 2 hours trying to control the thrashing sail and stay while I dismantled the drum and slid the foil sections off the end of the stay. Not fun.

 

[Racecruiser]

In laymans terms what are the differences of these two systems? What are the benefits of either?

Looks like Snow Leopard has summed up the case pretty well but even though I am race biased I would go for sliders. I fitted sliders to the main on my Mustang to enable a bit of single handed sailing and it made a huge difference single or two handed - you can't really flake a main with a bolt rope by yourself.

I don't think there was a performance disadvantage with sliders but do talk to your sail maker to make sure you get the right number and in the right places. You may notice an irritating drumming from the luff depending on wind strength, halyard tension and point of sail.

You may need to change the mast gate (entry point) - I had to.

Of course the sail cover that fits perfectly when flaked will not fit perfectly when the slides are still in the track - I got round this by taking the top few out of the track and wrapping the top of the sail round the boom so the cover still fitted with a bit of a stretch.

 

[oldharry]

Snow Leopard just about sums it up: if you are concerned for that last .1kt from your rig then its bolt rope - with the sail falling all over the place as it comes down. Doesnt matter as you have a hefty racing crew to deal with it.

Sliders mean the sail stays attached to the mast when it is dropped: ideal for the average short handed cruising boat, as the sail remains under much better control while being furled or hoisted.

 

[geoffatstanpit]

I have slugs on my boat and wouldn't have it any other way - I hardly think that much wind escapes between the mast and the sail!

But I do sail boats with bolt rope luffs from time to time and I find the solution is to pull the first reef down before dropping the sail, that makes a nice bag to drop the sail into and stops it all fallling into the sea. Got that tip from a guy in a Gallion 22 on Lymington Town Quay many years ago and have wanted to thank him ever since!

 

[snowleopard]

do talk to your sail maker to make sure you get the right number and in the right places.

I sailed on one boat recently which had the slides arranged so they were very close to the reef cringles. The result was that when the slides were stacked in the track you couldn't pull the cringle down onto the reefing horns. The cringles should be midway between slides.

 

[Johneagle]

Having got fed up with sliders for 2 reasons - they jam and break for one and put a series of point loads on the luff which shorten the life of the sail - I am going for a bolt rope with Spinlock entry feeder ( as I had on my E-Boat) with the addition of lazy jacks for sail lowering. Result - lower sail cost, no nasty bulges as the sail ages and longer sail life.

 

[Kukri]

Snowleopard sums it up perfectly.

 

[onesea]

Having got fed up with sliders for 2 reasons - they jam and break for one and put a series of point loads on the luff which shorten the life of the sail - I am going for a bolt rope with Spinlock entry feeder ( as I had on my E-Boat) with the addition of lazy jacks for sail lowering. Result - lower sail cost, no nasty bulges as the sail ages and longer sail life.

Having just converted to sliders, I would say its a safety point to me 30m2 of main to control on the way down.

Apparently you can get secondary tracks and runners that fit into your existing track to make it smoother? Anyone got any recommendations?

 

[BrianH]

One reason I changed from bolt-rope to sliders on a Trapper 500 I once had was because I had such trouble reefing single-handed.

It was impossible to keep the boat precisely head to wind while at the mast, it always fell off and the mainsail was pressed against the luff groove by the wind in the sail such that friction along the entire luff length prevented it being lowered. I had slugs that fitted the groove sewed around the bolt-rope at frequent intervals, which solved the problem.

I certainly didn't notice any performance issues - but by that time I no longer raced. I think that mast turbulence at that point of the sail is too much for it to matter on the average cruiser.