Hi everyone. I've own a 25' Contessa and I've a question about the feeding the mainsail into the track. At the moment it appears I don't have anything that would prevent the sail from pulling out of the track if under a lot of stress. Would I need a sail feeder and if so what would you recommend?

You have two options per below.
1. presuming you have slides on the mainsail once you have fed the sail into the track insert an R clip (Bunnings) to prevent them dropping out when lowering or reefing. .Issue is the sail will not drop down to the boom . I currently use this method and it suffices but a pita when reefing.
2. The black whatever above the track added is part of a mast gate and another is needed on the other side. How they work is that once the sail is fed in you turn them in to close the gap.

Thank you Bananabender! Really appreciate your info here.

The R clip through the hole there will stop the slides going down into the SS cassette. Those SS strips are there to store the slides when the sail is lowered and when you have a reef in. Normally you would feed the sail slides in from the bottom of the SS section and haul the sail right up. Then install a pin or bolt whatever at the bottom of the SS section so when the sail is lowered the slides don't just drop out but are held captive in the cassette.
The top section with the plastic bit will have to be filled in and faired so the sail slide can easily enter the sail track. This is fairly critical if you raise the sail or reef from the cockpit. This is easily done with an epoxy filler. You will need something like a slide covered with gladwrap or packing tape on the inside to form the epoxy over.

Select to expand quote

Ramona said..
The R clip through the hole there will stop the slides going down into the SS cassette. Those SS strips are there to store the slides when the sail is lowered and when you have a reef in. Normally you would feed the sail slides in from the bottom of the SS section and haul the sail right up. Then install a pin or bolt whatever at the bottom of the SS section so when the sail is lowered the slides don't just drop out but are held captive in the cassette.
The top section with the plastic bit will have to be filled in and faired so the sail slide can easily enter the sail track. This is fairly critical if you raise the sail or reef from the cockpit. This is easily done with an epoxy filler. You will need something like a slide covered with gladwrap or packing tape on the inside to form the epoxy over.

How will he insert the slides.

Select to expand quote

Bananabender said..

Ramona said..
The R clip through the hole there will stop the slides going down into the SS cassette. Those SS strips are there to store the slides when the sail is lowered and when you have a reef in. Normally you would feed the sail slides in from the bottom of the SS section and haul the sail right up. Then install a pin or bolt whatever at the bottom of the SS section so when the sail is lowered the slides don't just drop out but are held captive in the cassette.
The top section with the plastic bit will have to be filled in and faired so the sail slide can easily enter the sail track. This is fairly critical if you raise the sail or reef from the cockpit. This is easily done with an epoxy filler. You will need something like a slide covered with gladwrap or packing tape on the inside to form the epoxy over.

How will he insert the slides.

He will need to open the sail track up immediately above the boom. Then instal a lock in the bottom section to stop the slides falling out.
These details are easily found in the Seldens mast/rigging bible.

The missing top black thingy (green arrow) is a track end. Meant to eliminate sharp edges at the end of a vertical or horizontal track
image.fisheriessupply.com/c_lpad,dpr_2.0,w_300,ar_1:1,d_imageComingSoon-tiff/f_auto,q_auto/v1/static-images/216048-ronstan-ron-rc72581-t-track-end-ppm-tif
The missing one should be replaced to protect the sail.

My guess is that the stainless track has been added to repair some damage to the mast track which allowed the slugs or bolt rope to slip out. However, it has widened or never really fixed the problem.
As Ramona has suggested the sail leach is fed into the bottom of this track and hauled up.

Coming back to the original question:
I don't have anything that would prevent the sail from pulling out of the track if under a lot of stress.

Do you mean pull out at the gap where the green arrow is?
Pull out through the gap in the stainless track?
Pull out at the gap where the red arrow is?

The gap in the stainless track does look wider the than the actual mast track.

I little more information is needed.

Gary

Wouldn't is be safe to assume the little bit of velcro in the bottom of the pic above is actually the TOP of the sail cover, and therefore any slide pin at the top of the SS track is actually 4 to 5 feet above the boom? No way you're going to pin the slides that high.

Looks to me like a dodgy attempt to fix a corroded sailtrack and that is the issue that needs fixing.

I think this mast was originally set up for a mainsail with a boltrope. When the sail is lowered it goes everywhere and is a pain! Someone converted it to slugs and installed the SS strips to hold the slugs captive as the sail is lowered. It is just not done very well and the SS bits should go right down under the sail cover and finish about 50mm above the gooseneck. The 50mm below then is opened out to feed the slugs and a pin or a lock [bought from Whitworths} is used to stop the slugs falling out. This can be fixed by cutting ss plate long enough to go up enough to hide the gap at the top and finish 50mm above the gooseneck. The tapered bit at the top will need some careful filing so the slugs don't catch. Details are in the Selden handbook and you can buy their expensive kit.
The picture is mine when I first bought the boat. I used SS plate to make mine. With the cassette the slides go right down so when the sail is reefed the mainsail is low. I would never sail without this bit of kit ever again! Lazyjacks and stackpack and cassette are vital items for going to sea.



My cassette is hidden from sight by the stackpack. Every now and again it gets some silicon spray but otherwise I never touch the slides.