Mainsail Slide Systems Choices

[lovinlifebda]

Another Tides Track satisfied owner. Don’t know for sure how old the track is, the absolute minimum would be 12 years and still looking like a few years left for it. I can hoist to about the last foot before using the winch and it drops straight into the stack pack most times, went it doesn’t come all the way down cleanly it was my fault.

[Suijin]

My main so far is relatively easy to hoist and comes down like a rocket but I too am not getting any younger and the sail is "mid-life", so I expect when it comes time to replace it I'll go with the Tides system. Question: does it require special slides/cars?

[DougR]

When I installed my Tides Marine track the slides were included in the cost of the track. The slides are polished stainless steel and made to match the configuration of the track. Small slides for between the battens, a longer headboard slide, and a couple of different slide types are available for the batten ends. Typically they are attached to the sail with webbing.

My old track was 7/8" stainless screwed to the mast with stainless slides which wrapped around the track. The Tides track slid up over the original track, but they have an assortment of track profiles for extruded mast tracks, etc.

In my case it made a world of difference with a sail with four full battens.

DougR

[aluijten]

Have a look at this system. I’ve had it installed 6 years ago and very happy with it. It uses the existing mastgroove and does not need an additional track to be mounted. With my full batten mainsail it works like a charm. Lowering the sail and reefing without effort in getting the sail lowered

https://www.ronstan.com/marine/SAbattensystems.asp

Cheers,

Arno

[sailjumanji]

We use the Ronstan ball bearing cars and full battens on our cat. Still using the original cars - 16 years - and no issues whatsoever. Occasionally rinse off bearings with a strong stream from water hose. Lube them with Harken OneDrop. When we lower our main, need to keep one wrap on the winch to prevent it from crashing hard onto the boom. Raises just as easily. Not sure how the system could work better.