Hi Mark,
Thanks for taking time to offer some suggestions. Today I took a look at the slides on the luff of sail and will attach some photos. They look like brass to me. What do you think? I don’t know when they were last lubricated, but today Paul Miller kindly showed me on his boat how to spray the slides with a dilute soap solution. I’ll try that and see if it improves the situation.
Thanks again.
Elsie Sands
NS22 Rosy Red
Maple Bay, BC
Better than brass Elsie, those are cast bronze. They are exactly the ones you saw on my boat.
Oh, that’s good news Paul. You were so kind and generous to show me so many great features of your boat. I very much appreciate that.
It looks like the track on Rosy’s mast is similar to yours too, not a groove as I had mistakenly described.
I know that liquid soap will lube the sail track, but it will wash away with each successive rain. Liquid soaps also have a somewhat basic pH, which may induce corrosion. A can of Sail Note (spray) will linger longer, and will protect the slides from corrosion. At 48.00 a can, it’s worth it.
Barry Connell (N36 Nocturne)
SailKote?
Thanks Barry. Maybe I should look for some of that.
Here is Practical Sailors Test on sail slide lubes. They did not test dish soap. https://www.practical-sailor.com/sails-rigging-deckgear/sail-track-lubes-slide-all-lasts-longest
One advantage of dish soap is that it cleans the track out here the rain washes it off quickly, I used it for about four years before I bought a Strong Track. I did not notice any corrosion. Furthermore I did not notice any improvement with the Strong Track vs the bronze slides and a clean track.
Mark Powers
Hi Elsie
I am also a new Nonsuch owner with a 750 sq. Ft. sail to hoist. The previous owner recommended “SAILKOTE” as an annual lubricant for the sail track. I have researched it’s makeup and it looks like a good option.
Mike Howard
N36, Intuition
Ft. Pierce, Fl.
Elsie: I’m noticing in your photos that the screws holding the track appear to have corrosion where they attach to the mast. I would check those to see if the track is out of alignment which can cause the sail to be hard going up and down.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Hi Elsie -
Lucky you - you have the best of the best - good bronze slides. In Canada, these suckers cost the earth ($25 - $30 per) so, if you ever change your sail (like I did), have the loft use these very same slides.
I use McLube Sailkote. A can, that will last me a minimum of 4 - 6 years, cost me $28.00 last year, here in Toronto. This past year, I sprayed the track (very quickly) as the mast was down, lying on sawhorses. Then, I gave each sail slide a quick puff of the stuff. That was it for the 6 month season. My sail is still stiff but it climbs and drops , whooosh, like a stone. I use this product to spray every block, sheave and even the sliding cover over the companionway. I even sprayed it down my Marilon thru-hulls (when they were shut) to lubricate them. Sailkote is a dry lubricant. It works for me 100%. I might add that my sheave at the masthead seems to be OK but could be a touch stiff. I am also guilty, this year, of having a main halyard that sure needed a wash and was a bit stiff. Still, the sail whizzed down
Detergent truly does work but, hey, once a year application ?? Can’t beat that. Quick and clean and made for this exact purpose.
https://www.mclubemarine.com/sailkote/
Joe may be absolutely correct about your track alignment but, knowing this model, etc., I’d be shocked if there was any real problem with it. Your boat has, clearly, had too many good owners.
That said, I can think of oh-so-many reasons why your sail won’t come thundering down:
Main halyard: Too stiff and salt-caked (needs a good wash), maybe it’s passing through and rubbing on too many deck organizers or … ??, maybe it’s rubbing on the deck ?, maybe the sheave at the top of the mast needs a good spray of you-know-what Bottom line - take your time and examine EVERY single place where the halyard contacts something else before it hits your hand. You will find the enemy (friction). Eliminate it.
Your sail: The newer it is, the stiffer it likely is and the less that it wants to fall like a flimsy bedsheet.
Every block/sheave that the halyard contacts: If possible, throw them all into your dishwasher or just hand wash them with detergent. Then, spray 'em with … yup.
Your perfect bronze sail slides: Take a rag with some alcohol on it (in these COVID times, we all have that kicking around) and clean out all of the gunge that is in the sides that contact the sail track. In short, clean them all out. Then, spray them.
Your sail track on the mast: Hopefully, the mast will come down in the near future for a good check-up, etc. At that time, clean the daylights out if with alcohol then, just before it is stepped, spray the whole track.
Do all of that and I’ll bet you won’t have a problem.
Ernie A. in Toronto
Wow Ernie! I had done a quick price check at Amazon.ca for SailKote and gave it a pass. Your source seems to be cheaper although likely USD. Anyway I may have to give it another look. At $100 an 8oz can I was pretty okay with my dish soap.
https://www.amazon.ca/Mc-Lube-SAILKOTE-8OZ-Sailkote/dp/B01MRSUVEJ/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=CjwKCAiAnO2MBhApEiwA8q0HYZdMNSdx8iEw8igQXeILn2J8B0P5saueUlH4-Fhn-P0KGcSA0in8FhoC_bIQAvD_BwE&hvadid=271222611562&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9001444&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=12164706437196181719&hvtargid=kwd-301260971239&hydadcr=26952_10173402&keywords=mclube+sailkote&qid=1637609340&sr=8-1
That said my sail drops like a rock and when it doesn’t it is always a kink. I have a relatively new halyard and it has always had the problem. I clear the kinks regularly but I think that raising it the whole way with the drill and 3 wraps on the winch is inducing new kinks. My old halyard didn’t do that.
Hi all,
A shot of this on the mast track cars each time we go out seems to keep everything dry, clean and slippery. Oh, easy to get and cheap too.
Cheers,
Mike and Ashley Read
NS 26C #120 Nauti Girl
Bath, Ont.
“Just this side of Purrfection”
Harbour Chandler in Nanaimo lists it for about $30 / can.
That’s because its not being shipped & sold by Amazon but by a 3rd party US supplier “Northern Shipments” that tries to rip off Canadians by changing 4 times the price. You gotta look who the seller is. The price in Canadian marine stores is Cdn $25-$30.
I bought this can for around $28.00 CAD at Fogh Marine in Toronto and they are not the cheapest store in town. i winced because the previous can had cost me $12.00, years before until i realized that i was buying a can of the stuff that was twice the size.
Amazon is wonderful if you are well and truly stuck at home or there is no other place within reason, around you, to buy it. They are the very last place that I go to for a genuine marine product (but I do buy all sorts of other weird and obscure googahs from them).
Here’s a can for less than $24. from a good Canadian supplier, Binnacle.
https://ca.binnacle.com/product_info.php?products_id=15216
Ernie A. in Toronto
Hi Ernie,
What a lot of good advice. Thank you. I don’t think there’s corrosion on the screws holding the track where the slides run. I had a good look today. The sail is quite old but still seems serviceable, at least for now. It’s not at all stiff. I’m going to pick up a can of Sailkote at Harbour Chandler in Nanaimo soon.
You talk about removing the mast. I wasn’t thinking of doing that anytime soon. How often do you think it needs to be done. My first chance would be when I take Rosy to a boatyard to have the bottom painted next spring. People do sail here in winter and I’m so keen to learn I’m going to try to get some lessons on decent days this winter.
I’ll check to see if anything’s rubbing on the halyard.
Meantime, the boat’s pulled apart a bit as the boat guy redoes some dodgy wiring, installs the hot water tank, water pump, mixing tap, auto bilge pump, new house battery and changing the wiring for that, new light fixture, etc. Tomorrow I’ll have had the boat for a week. Rome wasn’t built in a day. No sailing yet, but good progress I think, getting her up to snuff.
Thanks again,
Hi Mike, Yes, I’ll pick up some Sailkote, thanks. Paul Miller who owns Sandpiper in Cowichan Bay, BC kindly showed me how he uses a cordless drill to hoist the sail. It works amazingly well and the sail on his NS30 is up in 20 seconds flat.
Actually, Rome wasn’t built in a millennium (though, likely, Rome, N.Y was).
Mast removal - Mark Ellis, the designer, advises periodic inspection of these aluminum masts and not to ever store the boat, on the hard, with the mast up. Many of our boats spend their lives in the water (the lucky ones). It’s probably a reasonable idea to unstep the mast every, I dunno, 5 years, maybe ?? Then, you have a chance to check it over for metal fatigue, obvious issues, cracks, etc. Or, if the boat stays in the water, you can send an experienced rigger up the mast in a bosun’s chair, to check things out. Or, silly me, motor up to a mast crane and just pull the mast … duh !!!
The weakest thing on a Nonsuch is the 2-piece aluminum mast. But, fear not, Elsie. They are strong as hell and very, very few have bust in two. If they are left up when the boat is on the hard, in it’s cradle, not able to rock in the wind, the wind pushes on the mast, bending it and this is felt at the mast collar, on the deck, where the mast goes through the deck. Not the best thing … This strains the mast but REALLY can strain the aluminum collar and the deck. Then, you get deck cracks, etc. Or, the aluminum collar cracks.
With 2 previous high quality owners of your boat, email them and find out when was the last time one of them remembers the mast coming out.
I wouldn’t worry about it unless you are certain that something is amiss. (I’d bet that nothing is amiss.)
Ernie A. in Toronto
And another thing … (as always). If you have a 2-speed winch for your main halyard, on an NS22, it’ll make easy work of raising your sail, using muscle power. It may just take a bit of time. If you only have a single speed winch (like me), your shoulders will bitch and a drill would be really helpful. I use a small light Hi-torque one. Paul Miller, with a way bigger boat and sail, understandably uses the biggie - a Milwaukee 28 volt right-angled drill. It would lift a tombstone to the top of the mast and it must weigh and feel like Tommy Gun. It’s one hefty beast, not cheap in Canada, and, sincerely, too big for your boat.
Ideally, you should be looking for something with around 600 - 800 inch/pounds of torque. There have been many, many discussions on this site regarding what is the best drill for this purpose (cheap ones break and burn out).
Or, you could buy a WinchRite. I have reservations about this very device (all based on build quality and service). Many other sailors love them. They are purpose-built.
Here’s a link: https://winchhandle.com/
Damn, they ain’t cheap. Believe me, there are alternatives.
So, do you have a single or a 2-speed halyard winch on your cabin top ?
Ernie A. in Toronto
I have a Lewmar 40 electric winch on my 26C. Two activation buttons. 1) port side of the port Lewmar winch and 2) at my heel in the cockpit to be able to see the sail clearing things on the way up! Bob Horne, 1989 N26C, #249, ENCORE, Pocasset, MA.
