Has anyone ever seen this? YES! Last Saturday as a matter of fact we gybed and saw ball bearings draining out of traveller car and on next tack entire car a foot above the track. We grabbed some extra
line and lashed the car on to the track centerline and then completed the race using just the mainsheet.
This was a
Harken Small Boat Car. The car is metal and has two plastic endcaps to hold the bearings in place. One of these broke. I contacted our
rigging shop "North Sails Atlantic / The Yacht Shop" and they have ordered these end caps before.
A note of caution. The new cars apparently do not fit on the old track. If purchasing a new car you may have to also replace the track and the track may not be cheap.
Have a friend with a J/29 who I ran into Sat evening and he said same thing happened with his boat - also in a race and they also lashed traveller car centerline and sailed the rest of the day.