Slides to batt cars.

[bromleybysea]

I have a fully battened mainsail on a 32’ boat. At the moment I’m considering converting from slides on the battery ends to batten cars. I‘m finding hauling the mainsail up to be more of an effort than it used to be. I used it be able to get it to the masthead by hand, now I need to I use a winch, such is old age. Will it make a significant difference? Enough to justify the not inconsiderable cost, and are there any views regarding Rutgerson v. Selden?

 

[wilkinsonsails]

Rugertson are a standard fit for us ,usually improving hoisting issues.
Check that your headboard slide is fairly rigid ,by hoisting the sail with out it in the mast ,if it becomes easier ,that means a roller slide firmly attached to the board will help.

 

[Catalina36]

I have a FB main with Rutgerson cars which are excellent if expensive. It's a heavy sail, 9 oz cloth, 36 foot boat, but even as a 73 year old geezer I can haul it to the top by hand and just winch the last few inches to tighten the luff. It comes down like a dose of salts into the stackpack too.

 

[stuartwineberg]

I have a fairly new fb sail with ronstan cars which I think are what used to be rutgerson. They have lots of small ball bearings rather than wheels. it’s a 36 footer and at my age (approaching 70) and small stature I still need help to get the main up (Might just be laziness) I use a winchrite. That said, it is the weight of the sail not the friction because when it’s time to let the main down it literally drops like a brick. So for me the test is whether your main drops easily. If it does, not sure I would invest. If you need to pull it down then you have a lot of friction.

 

[Iliade]

34'er with cars and I have to winch it up but it will fall down. (86kg and fit, if oldish, I can dangle off the halyard without the sail moving once it's about 60% up)

 

[tjbrace]

I replaced slides with Ronstan/Fredrikson ballslide cars on my fb main. They made no noticeable difference to hoisting but it comes down easily.

 

[RupertW]

I would really look to all the other things adding friction. There is something not quite right about a 31 foot boat’s mainsail being too hard to hoist even as we all get older.

 

[grafozz]

I replaced all my rutgerson slides with a complete Tides Marine (US) system it made a huge difference , even with the rutgerson set up I used to get breakages and problems with the cars twisting and jamming . I now think mty FB main was just too big , a catamaran, so I have quite a few good cars and slides left if you want some ?

 

[Catalina36]

I would really look to all the other things adding friction. There is something not quite right about a 31 foot boat’s mainsail being too hard to hoist even as we all get older.

One possibility is a halyard that's thicker than needed. Some years ago it took me longer than it ought to have done to realise that mine was jamming in the jammer even when the jammer wasn't on....

 

[grafozz]

Another useful ting is to spray PTFE on the bolt rope / sliders its very slippery !