Mystery sail slide jam??

[geoleo]

My mainsail on my Beneteau First 41S5 today developed a mystery sail slide jam. It is at the first batten down from the top. This is the only batten that is full width of the mainsail. It has a small say 4"X6" black plastic end of batten fitting. The other 3 battens are the old style partial at roach end of sail. This slide is attached to the slot with a bronze slide with the usual webbing wrap. The other slides are plastic attached same way. The slide is jamming in the track about 4ft down from the top. Takes a large pull to overcome the jam. It jams up and down. It only jammed at the dock today -not when raising and lowering main at sea when sail was flogging into wind. I will lubricate and switch to plastic slide as first try to fix. Any comments suggestions. Maybe this one full batten needs a real batten slide of some length to spead the load and lessen the 'attack angle"??

[singlespeed]

How old is the slide? I you have internal main halyard, attach a retrieval and check to see if there may be an issue with the halyard by pulling it up past the where it is hanging up. You might want to take the sail off the mast and look closely at the slide for nicks and burrs on any surface that contacts the mast. If you find any, no matter how small file them smooth. Next, take the halyard and attach it to the slide, along with are retrieval line and hoist it up. If it still doesn't slide easily over the length where it has been jamming, a trip up the mast is in order. At a minimum, take a piece of Emory cloth and a small file up with you to polish any nicks or burrs.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by geoleo

My mainsail on my Beneteau First 41S5 today developed a mystery sail slide jam. It is at the first batten down from the top. This is the only batten that is full width of the mainsail. It has a small say 4"X6" black plastic end of batten fitting. The other 3 battens are the old style partial at roach end of sail. This slide is attached to the slot with a bronze slide with the usual webbing wrap. The other slides are plastic attached same way. The slide is jamming in the track about 4ft down from the top. Takes a large pull to overcome the jam. It jams up and down. It only jammed at the dock today -not when raising and lowering main at sea when sail was flogging into wind. I will lubricate and switch to plastic slide as first try to fix. Any comments suggestions. Maybe this one full batten needs a real batten slide of some length to spead the load and lessen the 'attack angle"??

Chances are there is some wear on the mast where this slide is sticking. A new slide, longer if possible, might help, but you should inspect the mast at that area and clean it up as much as possible.

Then, when raising and lowering the sail be very careful that there is no pressure against the mast or pulling away from the mast where this slide is located, The slide should be free of all pressure when it is moved.

On my boat the slide on the headboard will jam in the mast track if there is any mainsheet tension when it is moved.

When a jam happens you want to prevent further damage to the mast. So the technique I use is to release the mainsheet and let the sail gently flap, then ease the pressure pulling down and raise the sail slightly with the halyard, this usually frees the jam and then it will fall down.

Do not try to move the sail up or down with the mainsheet tight.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Chances are there is some wear on the mast where this slide is sticking. A new slide, longer if possible, might help, but you should inspect the mast at that area and clean it up as much as possible.

Then, when raising and lowering the sail be very careful that there is no pressure against the mast or pulling away from the mast where this slide is located, The slide should be free of all pressure when it is moved.

On my boat the slide on the headboard will jam in the mast track if there is any mainsheet tension when it is moved.

When a jam happens you want to prevent further damage to the mast. So the technique I use is to release the mainsheet and let the sail gently flap, then ease the pressure pulling down and raise the sail slightly with the halyard, this usually frees the jam and then it will fall down.

Do not try to move the sail up or down with the mainsheet tight.

I am going to install some Ronstan Allslip slides and Use some McLube dryspry. Now I just need to define the correct size allslip slides 5/8-3/4 or 7/8?? As all slides would be a project i will start with the 4 bronze slides and replace them.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by geoleo

I am going to install some Ronstan Allslip slides and Use some McLube dryspry. Now I just need to define the correct size allslip slides 5/8-3/4 or 7/8?? As all slides would be a project i will start with the 4 bronze slides and replace them.

Actually Bainbridge Allslip slides

[Joli]

Wash the track thoroughly with dish soap and generous amounts of water. Dirt and salt can bugger up almost any luff car/slider system.
We wash our cars after long passages, the salt stops them from circulating and cause the battens to hinge.

[Kd9truck]

The bainbridge black slugs (same as slides only round) are what I put on my main after a heavy day where I broke 10 of 21 lighter weight slugs.
I have cleaned the mast track with acetone soaked 12 mm rope with a down haul line up the track pulling back and forth all the way up and down and that helped a lot.
Cheers

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Joli

Wash the track thoroughly with dish soap and generous amounts of water. Dirt and salt can bugger up almost any luff car/slider system.
We wash our cars after long passages, the salt stops them from circulating and cause the battens to hinge.

This is the place to start.

After having worked through trouble with mine, cleaning made the biggest difference of all.

I could stand at one end of my 64 foot mast (in horizontal position and with one hand give the car a push and it would go all the way down to the gooseneck. In one shot. After I washed it.

But then only 24 hours later when the wind was blowing and all of the sand was blowing it was hanging up every 3 inches.

Sprayed it all down with the hose once again, and it was easy to make it fly the entire length of the track again.