Mast Rail Lubrication

[Marc]

i don't know if I'm even saying this right, but, last summet I had a somewhat hard time raising my mainsail and dropping it because the slides would get crooked and jam.  Is there anything I can use to lubricate the system?  I thought maybe WD-40 but I'm afraid of stains on the sail.  Whats out there?  Marc

[Captain Smollett]

If they are turning and getting jammed, you may want to fix that physically.  Perhaps they have been opened up too much over time and need to be 'squeezed' back together a little bit?

If you do need to spray some lube on them, I think I'd use SailKote before I'd use WD-40.  I've used it on a main with internal slugs and it worked wonders.

[s/v Faith]

Marc,

 For the love of all that is good and pure and right with the world, do not use the 'silicone' sprays.

They might work, but the overspray will coat your decks and make it difficult to get paint or other coatings to stick to them.

 Silicone is evil.

[maxiSwede]

Teflon Spray // dry lube or equivalent does wonders....

It's sooo nice when letting go of the halyard and the main drops dead on deck  ;D

A treatment once every 3 months or so does it for me. I just spray the track/groove on the mast and the slides when the sail is down. excess lube doesn't harm or stain the sails either.

A friend and sailmaker told me about this little 'miracle cure'

Fair winds

[Marc]

Thanks alot for all your suggestions.  I have a can of Sailkote coming from Defender.  I do hope that we all can meet someday, I have developed a respect for a lot of you.  I'm going to start my commisiong this coming weekend and hope to be in the water by the 1st or 2nd week of May.  Marc

[Godot]

Before lubing, try to clean the slot.  Gunk sometimes builds up in mine which makes things gritty.

My mast has a slot that slugs slide up.  I tie a very small rag, wrapped around a pencil (secured with some safety wire) and soaked in whatever miracle cleaner I have onboard (usually Simply Green, although I've considered using Hoppes #9 because it sort of reminds me of cleaning a gun), tie it to the halyard and feed it up the slot.  I pull it up and down two or three times.  If you do this don't forget to rig a line to pull the halyard (and rag) back down!  The first time I did this I was afraid the rag might jam; but happily that hasn't happened.  It's possible I've just been lucky.

I never bothered, but if you get another rag and soak it in some lube, this might be a good way to apply it.

A different setup would have to be figured if you have an external track.