What is the purpose of this gap main track and how to stop my slugs from falling out?

[Lihuedooley77]

Might be for when you reef down, single or double reef. allowing the single or double reefed luff cringle to be brought down low to a new tack position ...near the goose neck, instead of having a huge pile of main sail luff to stack up on top of itself. That prevents the reef cringles from being several feet above the where the normal tack of the main sail would be made fast.

You now have propper luff, and foot tension on the reefed main.

The photo in the post just before this. I have used these before when reefing. down.

Might want to have two or three, just in case you drop one, and it takes two bounces off the coach roof, and overboard.

Don't know the perfect nautical term, I just called them sail track stops.

Easy , no fuss, no muss fix, for normal raising and lowering and tension on the luff and foot of the sail .

[psk125]

Lhd77 has a good point: When reefing, the slugs might stack up in the lower section and prevent the sail from getting low enough to hook the tack to the gooseneck. The OP needs to tell us if this is the case. For the first reef (there also seems to be a Cunningham) it looks like there may be three slugs stacked - perhaps not enough to cause a problem. Is there a second reef? Does THAT stack cause a problem hooking the tack? The picture looks like the lower track is blocked off at the bottom. Is that the case, or can the slugs slip out through there too?

To "fix" this existing setup, the simplest thing to do might be to find a piece of extrusion that will fill in the current gap, and screw it in place (one machine screw through the middle of it, into the mast. Make sure the screw head doesn't interfere with the slugs getting through!) after the sail is bent on. If the bottom track is open at the bottom, you can put a REMOVABLE stop there, so the slugs will stay on the mast when the sail is lowered, but can come off to allow for reefing when necessary. A heavy-duty cotter pin through the extrusion's arms would work to do this. A cotter pin can be attached to the gooseneck with a piece of marlin so it doesn't get lost. The fancy screw-plugs that serve this same purpose often go missing, as noted above. If the bottom track is blocked at the bottom and this does not cause a problem reefing because of the stacks of slugs, then you're done. If the stacking slugs are a problem for reefing, the blocked section can be opened to allow the slugs off for reefing, and the extrusion then drilled for a removable cotter-pin stop. This would hopefully fix the setup you have now. Let us know what you decide to do.

[keithw88]

Nice post, TrentePieds. A minor quibble: using gaskets to change sail shape is risky; it's all too easy to focus stress on individual points and rip the sail (for modern sailcloth) (as I have!), or stretch the cloth (for older sailcloth). Also, when releasing a reef, it's all too easy to forget them...
Back to the OP's picture: the bottom track is, as virtually every one above has identified, to allow luff tension to be varied (particularly in the lower part of the sail) by sliding the gooseneck up and down- the interesting bit is the bit of track in the middle. It seems clear to me that (as also identified above) that this is not original and maybe whoever fitted it made a couple of errors. 1. There needs to be a gate above and a pin at the bottom.
2. My guess is that the new piece is upside-down; it has an angled shape at the bottom which would be helpful for loading the slugs (downwards, bottom one first).
One point I think not mentioned above: rigging a trys'l in the same groove/"cove" as a bent-on and furled mains'l requires the length of track we are discussing to be long enough to accommodate all the necessary slugs - unless a secondary piece of track is fitted which allows the trys'l to be loaded lower down the mast and then hoist up through the gate which is engineered to connect either of the two lower track sectionsto the main upper section. (In Auckland, Phil of Gulf Harbour Riggers did that for me on Touch Wood quite some time ago).

[TrentePieds]

Guyrj33:

No I didn't :-)

"Cove" is indeed the term known in my circles since time immemorial, i.e. as long as extruded ally spars have existed, and before that since Marconi rigs with "built spars" came into use. Sundry classes of racing dinghies, e.g. Lightnings, had built spars with coves. The ORIGINAL reason for using a cove rather than a track was to close the gap twixt spar and luff as doing so was considered to have aerodynamic advantages. As ally spars became common, "slugs" had to be invented, since on a cruising boat feeding a boltrope into a cove is the devil's own work, and with such an arrangement the sail cannot "rattle down" under its own weight when reefing and striking as it can when fitted with slugs. No doubt there are regional variations in terminology, but just so are there temporal variations.

The gear as shown by the OP is, by current NA standards, something of an antiquity, which is why it is unknown to people whose knowledge comes mainly from the glossy mags and the InterNet, or who are autodidacts.

The gear is, despite or because of, its antiquity, a boon to the cruising man because it recognizes Willy Occam's dictum: KISS. Fewer operational problems, less maintenance, less cost, but, of course, you do have to know how to use it. Best learned from geezers who were brought up with it. Best of all, from geezers who learned it when they were lads from men who were geezers then ;-).

TP

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Guyrj33:

No I didn't :-)

"Cove" is indeed the term known in my circles since time immemorial, i.e. as long as extruded ally spars have existed, and before that since Marconi rigs with "built spars" came into use. Sundry classes of racing dinghies, e.g. Lightnings, had built spars with coves. The ORIGINAL reason for using a cove rather than a track was to close the gap twixt spar and luff as doing so was considered to have aerodynamic advantages. As ally spars became common, "slugs" had to be invented, since on a cruising boat feeding a boltrope into a cove is the devil's own work, and with such an arrangement the sail cannot "rattle down" under its own weight when reefing and striking as it can when fitted with slugs. No doubt there are regional variations in terminology, but just so are there temporal variations.

The gear as shown by the OP is, by current NA standards, something of an antiquity, which is why it is unknown to people whose knowledge comes mainly from the glossy mags and the InterNet, or who are autodidacts.

The gear is, despite or because of, its antiquity, a boon to the cruising man because it recognizes Willy Occam's dictum: KISS. Fewer operational problems, less maintenance, less cost, but, of course, you do have to know how to use it. Best learned from geezers who were brought up with it. Best of all, from geezers who learned it when they were lads from men who were geezers then ;-).

TP

Genuinely interested in this 'Cove' term, you got a reference or links to it's use in this instance?

[TrentePieds]

Good of you to ask :-)

In order to find a specific external reference, I would have to plough through much material in my archives, which are stored elsewhere, in order to find my construction plans for the Enterprise dingy of which I built a couple for my Alma Mater's sailing club half a century ago.

Below is a clip of a present day Enterprise as they are constituted today, hull of frozen snot, spars of extruded ally. At 22:30 you will see the boltrope on the luff being fed to the cove. The airbladder is a new-fangled idea to make it easier for novices to right the dinghy when they capsize - as they will. It is only there to prevent the boat from doing a complete turtle, and once the beginners can chew gum and trim sheets at the same time it is not used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dub13LycGsg

In my day, the hulls were plywood, and the spars were built from Sitka spruce. Back then you could still buy Sitka without having to mortgage your house or sell your firstborn down the river.

The masts consisted of two laminations of 2 x 4 spruce stock so your blank was 4 x 4, the glue face running fore'n'aft. The first thing you did was run a cove in each piece so that when the pieces were married, the coves met each other on the centerline of the after side of the mast blank. To do that you used a router with a coving bit. Yes - electric routers had been invented :-) You could also do it with an old-fashioned, Armstrong powered router PLANE [I still have my Grandad's :-)] Obviously on the after side of each cove you had to shave off a sliver, before assembly, to allow for the thickness of the sail cloth which was (ahem) COTTON. Best Egyptian #6, if you please! Once the blank was glued up, you moulded and sided it to specification using planes, scrapers and sandpaper.

Just as a matter of interest, at about the same time I had my first experience with Dacron, building a main for my Seabird yawl (Tom Day's design of 1901 vintage). That boat had proper external slides running on a proper track all the way up, which simplifies life enormously. Fixed gooseneck, of course, the luff being tensioned with a Cunningham haul which is just fine as you only need an inch or less of motion if your halyard is led and runs correctly without generating the friction you all too often see on "modern" boats.

So that's the best I can do for you today :-) I'll bet you a yard of ale that the term "cove", in our context, comes from the fact that "coving" is one of the steps involved in building a wooden spar.

Cheers

TP

[psk125]

Trente Pieds is using the word cove. Americans might use the word groove instead. Cove is not totally out of American vocabulary, however. Kayak builders are familiar with bead & cove strips, which have a convex curve (a bead) on one edge that fits into a concave groove (a cove) on the other. Each strip edge nestles into the next so there is a tighter fit and fewer gaps to fill.

Just to throw more confusion into the mix, despite TP's admonition about it, the mainsail (33 sq m) bolt rope for our J/36 leads into a groove at the aft end of the mast. We have no slugs on the luff, no nettles for our reefing cringles, and the main is also loose-footed.

[IslandHopper]

I'm in with the Groove, but the only Cove i'm familiar with is one you drop an anchor in

[roland stockham]

Back in the days of cotton sails they where always removed in habour for anything more than an overnight stop. With the invention of synthetic sails which don't rot if damp this became less critical but still a good idea. Sail systems where set up to make it simple to remove the sail and hence the need for the gate.

It may also be that the missing bit was a switching gate. This allowed a second track to extend down the mast past the boom. This allows the trisail to be rigged ready if bad weather was imminent. To switch sails the boom would be dropped to its lowest position. The main was dropped so all the slugs where in the bottom track. The gate was then switched like a points system to allow the trisail to be hoisted. The advantage was that not only could the trisail be a much better cut for heavy weather the main could also benefit by being lighter and cut fuller for better light weather performance as it does not need to stand up to heavy weather conditions. The other benefit was that if the main was damaged you could use the trysail while the main was repaired.
Much of this no longer seams to apply as sailors seam to be rich enough to leave sails (even headsails!!) permanently mounted and not care about UV or weather damage. Also if the weather is a bit iffy for sailing just fire up the iron topsail and head home. In those days the options where sail or drift so the sails had to work come what may.

[psk125]

Rigging a storm trysail came up in a different thread. The current method avoids messing with the extrusion or track on the mast entirely. Padeyes are set up on the mast, one perhaps a bit below the spreaders, another a bit below the gooseneck, with a synthetic line or wire tight between them. The trysail is hanked to that and hoisted by the main halyard when needed. This results in fewer holes -weakening points- in the mast than would happen if a second track or another extrusion were used.

[roland stockham]

I agree, that is a good way of doing it. I just though that it may explain why there is a big gap between the two tracks. Normally if the goosneck is on a slide it simple shares the same track as the sail and has a side gate. If that is right there will be evidence of rivet holes running from the area where the section of track is missing.

[psk125]

Storm trysail not likely needed often on a 24' S&S boat designed for coastal cruising. They'd probably be headed in to port well before the wind got that high.

[Thuid]

My mast is setup very similar, the lower is for the boom adjustment and the upper is for the sail. But I have stop blocks that get put on the end of the tracks to stop the sail or boom from coming off in that gap.

[dzhiurgis]

Yep, as everyone correctly guessed the very bottom (steel) track is for sliding gooseneck up and down.
Yes there is a cunningham laying around, kinda got to learn how to use it yesterday...
Went up and took couple more picks. Was hoping to drill a pin just above the gap and then lift up sails just before leaving port, but that would mean it flaps something in like 1.6 meter height.
Now just thinking drilling out old rivets and moving the middle section up to get rid of the gap. I can't think of a simple way to make mast gates, especially for a shape like this.
FYI there's a little tapped hole just below middle grove, assume for screwing a little stop?

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "I've recently acquired Sparkman & Stephens Falcon 24 in Auckland and need to get some work done to get her in ship shape."

Yet you give your homeport as Silute, Lithuania. Getting this little boat "ship shape" for piddling about in the Curonian Lagoon is one thing. Getting 'er "ship shape" for sailing 'er from Aukland to there is QUITE another!

You speak of a lack of lazy jacks. Why would you be expecting to find lazy jacks on a primitive rig like this? They simply aren't needed for the sort of conditions this boat was designed and BUILT to sail in.

So all in all, I'm getting a tad worried. Are you fairly new to the game? The way you ask your questions would indicate so. No shame in that. We were all neophytes once :-) If I'm wrong, then forgive me for being inquisitive. If I'm right, then let us help you in the best way we can. The shellbacks in this forum will agree with me that, as rigged, the boat isn't up to going deep sea. She's fine for the waters immediately around Aukland, but she'd be a bit of a dodgey proposition for going out onto the exposed coasts of NZ.

Another question that may seem unrelated, but is not - Is Lithuanian your first language, and English your second? I ask because if it is so, I'll be mindful of it and explain “sailor language” where the meaning may not be obvious to those of us who had to learn English late in life. Just so you know, I had precisely FOUR words of English when I landed on these shores a long time ago :-)

So let's start with the simple case, that of piddling about on the weekends: Do as you say in post #29 and move the "middle" cove up so it butts to the working cove. AFTER doing that, take a file to it to make sure the slugs can pass the joint without hanging up, and drive a pin through the bottom of it so the slugs can't fall out. Now you are good to go for messing about in Aukland harbour.

How is the fall of your main halyard led? Do you belay it at the foot of the mast, or is it taken to the cockpit along the house top? How your halyard is set up will determine how you need to set up your reefing gear.

While we are about it, how is your jib set up? Hank-on or roller furl?

TP