BayCruiser 23 BC23 mainsail sail slides

[Peter Cockerton]

On an outing in strong winds the other week, chatting with Andy D and distracted by an all female crew on a very fast catamaran my BR20 gybed quite violently and took seven sail slides (A017) as hostage.
Living in the Midlands with no sail lofts nearby i decided to try and replace the slides myself.
The slides which attach to cringles were very easy to replace as you can use the plastic/nylon shackles

Sail Shackles Small Snap-In Anti Jamming Plastic (A023) Each
SKU: A023
The slides which attach to the sail where the battens are fitted is the main challenge as the moulding on the sail has a slot to accommodate webbing, the webbing is initially sewn onto the slide and after two wraps around the batten moulding and through the slide it is then stitched through the luff rope and the webbing and  also in the gap between the luff rope and the sail slide to firmly secure the webbing and slide.
I ordered one of those “handy stitching tools” as per a previous post advice, without it the job would have been impossible I think.
One thought did come to mind as I’m sure no doubt I will get breakages again on the slides which require stitching, could I lash the slides with several turns of a good quality UV resistant cord and make it off like we do on the mast shrouds. This would be much quicker and also potentially stop damage to the luff rope when your force the stitching needle through several times when stitching the webbing.

[garethrow]

Peter

I too have broken a BR20 mainsail slide this season in a blow whilst reefed, the slide in question being the top most one. All my slides are sewn into the mainsail - no sail shackles. 'We' (meaing my wonderful 1st mate Helen) did mange to sew a replacement in - but as you say, not easy. Matt is aware that this is a problem cropping up now and then and is trying to source reliable metal slides to spec on future BR20 sails, but maybe just for the top and botton slide being the most vulnerable.

Regards

Gareth Rowlands
BR20grp Halen Y Mor USA rig

[Peter Cockerton]

I emailed Hyde Sails to ask about lashing the sail slides to the sail where batten mouldings only have a slot to accommodate webbing and one of their sail designer’s came back to me with the following :

Thanks for the email.  Sorry to here about the bad gybe.  Yes you might be able to cut the webbing off the batten protector and tie a new slide on with rope.  It may get court more when lowering and hoisting the sail as the webbing will hold the slide straighter in the mast grove.

So will research a suitable “rope” as he refers to and keep rope and spare slides on the boat.

Gareth, stronger slides would be good but not if the possibility of pulling the bonded track off the mast is even remotely a possibility, that I wouldn’t like to attempt to repair, me and glue don’t seem to “bond” excuse the pun.

Peter C