Tides Marine sail track failure

[model 10]

My track is about 10 years old and is seriously cracked or crazed. How do you predict when the track has reached the end?

[Captain Bill]

Mine is now 16 years old and has looked cracked and crazed for the last 8 but has not failed yet. I'm planning to replace it before the end of the year, before leaving for the Bahamas.

[Pitchondesign]

My track was 16 years old, cracked and crazed. It failed in the most spectacular fashion, allowing the main to go flailing around in 25knts of wind. As soon as we attempted to pull it down, the cars came off the track. It always fails at the worst possible time. If you see cracks, replace it.

[model 10]

Yikes! Sounds like 16 years is the limit. Looks like the track needs to be inspected carefully well before that. I think I just heard about one that pulled from the mast and they were able to strap the track back to the mast, keep the sail up and keep going

[zboss]

Can extend the life by periodically treating with UV protectant?

[Pitchondesign]

I put a new track on and the material appears to be somewhat different. No idea if different is better. They claim it is I also put on new slides. The newer slides are longer than the old ones and as a result, are much more resistant to binding. The new track and slides are amazingly slick. Now the sail just drops lightening fast. With the old track, I had to pull the main down.

[hpeer]

We put on a tides track about 8 years ago. So far no issues. Comes down like it is free falling.

[model 10]

Our boat has been pretty far down into the high UV zone most of the tracks life. The track could never be removed without cracking, it's looking bad.

[hpeer]

I find this amazing. Not doubting, just pretty well shocked.

For whatever reason I believed the sail track material was some variant of Polyethelene, the same stuff telephone cable jackets are made of. It sure feels like it. Anyway that stuff lasts in the wild under all kinds of conditions forever. I’ve never seen it degrade in the slightest way.

Now that jacket has, I believe, UV inhibitors. The PE is naturally white I believe. Making it black stops the UV from entering the material and doing damage.

Well, this is what I thought anyway. I hope we find out more about this. It’s a moderately expensive mod to the boat. I’d not like to replace it.

Edit:
Seems others had the same idea I did. UHMW is Ultra High Molecular Weight

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sai...rine-sailtrack

“The extruded UHMW Polyethylene track is tough, UV resistant and extremely slippery.”

http://www.emcoplastics.com/uhmw-faqs/

“HOW DOES THE ENVIRONMENT AFFECT UHMW?

Wind – no effect
Rain or sea water – no effect
Sun without protection – depends on thickness and location. The thicker the better. In Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and other desert areas – less than one year”

“IS UHMW UV STABLE?

In its natural state, UHMW-PE is not UV stable, but formulations are available to provide UV stability in natural, black or any custom color.”

I’m wondering if they got a bad batch “back then”?

[hpeer]

Internet search reveals another installed in 2003 (15 years ago) that failed at 10 years.

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!...co/YrfmCgOHHQ0

Also found an old thread on SSCA about this. One fellow wrote to Tides and they answered that it lasts a very long time but had some product with a “defect”. Kinda tends to point to a bad batch around 2003, give or take.

[svjobeth]

There are several posts on a cruiser's FaceBook page about two Tides Marine Strong track failures at, (if memory is correct), 7 and 4 years of age and continuous use. While the posts contain some information regarding the circumstances surrounding the failures, they are also a string of continuous tirades against Tides Marine and their products. Or, perhaps that's just my take-away from it.

Anyway...

We all know that nothing lasts forever, especially in the marine environment and ESPECIALLY in the tropical marine environment. I feel that ten to fifteen years seems to be a more than reasonable life expectancy for these track systems; in that time, sails, canvas, rigging, etc., will all wear out.

We installed our Strong Track system in 2015. We're in the boat yard repairing Hurricane Irma damages. In preparation for stepping the rig, I did an inspection of the mast and fittings. Small cracks throughout the Strong Track material are clearly visible in the track structure, and extend from the lower end of the track all the way to the upper end. There are also two areas of what look to be material deterioration on the exterior sides of the track, halfway between the spreaders and masthead.

I don't feel that replacement of the track is warranted, but clearly, monitoring of the track structure is in order. I suppose the question is, when is it time to be concerned about failure with these tracks? At what point of deterioration is replacement of the track system warranted?

[hpeer]

Bill and Lisa,

Your post prompted me to call Tides.

Yeah, about 10 years, give or take on the wear and stress cycles.

They gave me some guidance on how to gauge the track and information about replacement track costs. I don’t feel comfortable repeating that so I would suggest you call yourself.

One thing though, it’s important to know the serial number of the unit, which is imprinted on the gate.

Good luck.

[svjobeth]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Bill and Lisa,

Your post prompted me to call Tides.

Yeah, about 10 years, give or take on the wear and stress cycles.

They gave me some guidance on how to gauge the track and information about replacement track costs. I don’t feel comfortable repeating that so I would suggest you call yourself.

One thing though, it’s important to know the serial number of the unit, which is imprinted on the gate.

Good luck.

Good info; thanks much.

[Jim Cate]

They gave me some guidance on how to gauge the track and information about replacement track costs. I don’t feel comfortable repeating that so I would suggest you call yourself.

I'm curious (and a potential purchaser): what have they told you that you can't repeat in public? Or put another way, why is this info confidential?

I suspect that they might well have one story for potential buyers and another for those with failed or failing tracks, hence my interest.

Jim

[hpeer]

Jim,
Not confidential, I’m just not sure I can adequately convey the message. So my best advice is to call their technical support number and get it from the horses mouth. And I just don’t like repeating a private conversation.

That said..and remembering you are dealing with an aging memory..... look for signs of deterioration. It starts as small superficial cracks but at some point it progresses to where you can dig your fingernail into the crack. At that point you should start considering a replacement track. Apparently replacement tracks carry a bit of a discount. But you need to call with the serial number to get pricing. They supposedly ship international within a very few days.

The sense I got is that there is a fair bit of variability in how long the units last. 10-15 years or thereabouts. The first places to show signs will be where the batten pockets attach.

Hope this helps. But call, they were quite helpful.

My track is about 7-8 years old. I installed it myself. Not terribly hard. Replacing the track should be straight forward, the biggest expense is in modifying the main to take their slugs, which I had a loft do. The track works well, on a still day i can hoist our main 90+% by hand, 44’, 40,000# boat with full battens. Heavy sail. Comes down like a pile of bricks.

If you know it is a “consumable” then the replacement is not such a big deal.