mainsail slides

[Billy654]

While sailing this week-end (Catalina 30) I noticed one of the slides on the mainsail had broken. When I lowered the mainsail I found that all slides were made of plastic (7/8"). Can I replace these slides myself or do I have to take my mainsail to a sail loft for repair?

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Billy654

While sailing this week-end (Catalina 30) I noticed one of the slides on the mainsail had broken. When I lowered the mainsail I found that all slides were made of plastic (7/8"). Can I replace these slides myself or do I have to take my mainsail to a sail loft for repair?

You should be able to repair this slides by sewing in new ones. I have done so; it is a bit labour intensive, but you will learn how to do minor repairs. Get /build a sail repair kit with needles, sail thread, a palm, pliers etc..

[GreatWhite]

I have changed slides on my sails. Our slides were attached using a small piece of webbing that attached the slide to the sail. Removed the stitching through the webbing. Reused the webbing, replaced the slide. Do as Jackdale said and throw a few replacement stitches into the webbing an you are good to go!

[pdqaltair]

Piece of cake.

Sail Rite has the parts and materials, much cheaper than WM or most others. I suggest the slugs with SS inserts; they are less breakage prone. They can be attached to the sails with 1/2 nylon webbing, 1/8" cord lashings, or shackles (which are more prone to wearing the sail).

It isn't even required to remove the sail; just work the slides out of the gate a few at at time.

[DrB]

while you can repair it yourself, why bother? If you live near a sail loft, they can do it faster and most likely better than you. Pull the sail off the boat, drop it off on a Monday. They can do the work in a few hours, pick it up on Friday, pay a few $, reinstall on your boat, go sailing.

If you fix it yourself, you will to buy the stuff from Sailrite, wait for delivery, go to your boat, undo the stitching, put in the new slide, and resew. Probably will take an hour or so to full do the repair plus the cost.

My approach, yes, you will have to remove the sail and get it to the loft, but if the loft is near the boat, it shouldn't be an issue and you have it done correctly for only a few dollars. They may even be able to do it while you wait.

DrB

[GraemeInCanada]

I would never get somebody to fix these.. they are easy to do. Just get some new slugs from a marine store. Ask what they have, see what works for you. I use plastic ones at the moment because they are readily available, takes me just a few minutes to replace any that break. As for connecting them to the sail, there are a variety of options. Again, ask at your marine store and make a decision from the choices available. I have been using plastic ones that snap on tightly, they rarely rarely fail and are easy to take on and off which makes them reusable. The slugs fail far more often..

Taking off an old slug and putting on a new one is as easy as taking out the pin at the base of the mast, carefully bringing out the slugs and sail from the rail and holding on (especially if there is any wind) a couple of bungee cords can assist here, and putting the new one in and attaching it to the sail. Then just thread the rest back in and put the pin back in.

Be sure to put that little pin somewhere safe while working on it though, that's the LAST thing you'd want to go "sploosh" into the ocean, and we all know that if something can fall out of your hand or pocket or roll around at all that we absolutely need, it will inevitably fall into the ocean.

[pdqaltair]

Originally Posted by DrB

while you can repair it yourself, why bother? If you live near a sail loft, they can do it faster and most likely better than you. Pull the sail off the boat, drop it off on a Monday. They can do the work in a few hours, pick it up on Friday, pay a few $, reinstall on your boat, go sailing.

If you fix it yourself, you will to buy the stuff from Sailrite, wait for delivery, go to your boat, undo the stitching, put in the new slide, and resew. Probably will take an hour or so to full do the repair plus the cost.

My approach, yes, you will have to remove the sail and get it to the loft, but if the loft is near the boat, it shouldn't be an issue and you have it done correctly for only a few dollars. They may even be able to do it while you wait.

DrB

I apologize in advance.

* The OP may not be as flush with cash as you. Be considerate.
* If it takes over 2-5 minutes per slide, you're dragging. The first will take longer, the balance will not.
* I am fairly certain I would be finished before the sail could be removed from the boat and taken to the loft. I would be sailing in and hour or two. Not bravado - I have done this.
* If you marina hop and stay near home, you can, of course, rely on others. Sort of sailor "light."
* Any sailor that cannot or will not replace a slide has LAS.

Pretty funny.

[DrB]

Originally Posted by pdqaltair

I apologize in advance.

* The OP may not be as flush with cash as you. Be considerate.
* If it takes over 2-5 minutes per slide, you're dragging. The first will take longer, the balance will not.
* I am fairly certain I would be finished before the sail could be removed from the boat and taken to the loft. I would be sailing in and hour or two. Not bravado - I have done this.
* If you marina hop and stay near home, you can, of course, rely on others. Sort of sailor "light."
* Any sailor that cannot or will not replace a slide has LAS.

Pretty funny.

I don't understand how my post was funny or inconsiderate. The OP asked about repairing a sail slug. While others said that he can fix the slug, which I agreed he probably could, I suggested just taking it to a shop and having them doing it, instead of buy stuff from Sailrite, waiting for it to arrive, and then doing it himself. I also said that this made sense if he had easy access to a shop. If he doesn't then it might not. The cost is not expensive, maybe $20 at most, so I don't understand your "flush for cash" comment. Also, the shop can do it and it right. He may end up doing a patch job, that could require re-work later.

More specifically your comments seem to be directed at me personally. Had I done something to offend you? I also find your statements somewhat contradictory. You state if your taking more than 5 minutes a slide your dragging, but then say in an hour or two you could have the slug replaced and ready to sail. Which is it? On my sail, the webbing is attached to the sail with pretty beefy stitches and a lot of them. I would challenge you to have the slug webbing destitched, the slug replaced, and the slug restitched in under five minutes, even with a machine.

Your comment about any sailor that can or will not replace a slide has LAS appears to be an insult. What is LAS? I am not familiar with that acronym.

Again, I don't understand how my post was funny.

DrB

[GeorgeB]

Plastic sail slugs deteriorate and weaken over time due to UV radiation. Breakage is not that uncommon (and is actually a good thing as you would rather replace a $.75 slug than have to re-sew a luff). Practice sewing is a good thing as there will be a time when a sail maker isn’t convenient. Like the time we had to divert to Morrow Bay while going to SoCal because we didn’t have $3 of slugs on board.

[pdqaltair]

Originally Posted by DrB

I don't understand how my post was funny or inconsiderate. The OP asked about repairing a sail slug. While others said that he can fix the slug, which I agreed he probably could, I suggested just taking it to a shop and having them doing it, instead of buy stuff from Sailrite, waiting for it to arrive, and then doing it himself. I also said that this made sense if he had easy access to a shop. If he doesn't then it might not. The cost is not expensive, maybe $20 at most, so I don't understand your "flush for cash" comment. Also, the shop can do it and it right. He may end up doing a patch job, that could require re-work later.

More specifically your comments seem to be directed at me personally. Had I done something to offend you? I also find your statements somewhat contradictory. You state if your taking more than 5 minutes a slide your dragging, but then say in an hour or two you could have the slug replaced and ready to sail. Which is it? On my sail, the webbing is attached to the sail with pretty beefy stitches and a lot of them. I would challenge you to have the slug webbing destitched, the slug replaced, and the slug restitched in under five minutes, even with a machine.

Your comment about any sailor that can or will not replace a slide has LAS appears to be an insult. What is LAS? I am not familiar with that acronym.

Again, I don't understand how my post was funny.

DrB

Sorry. Sometimes I feel like a good rant, but I should resist. It really wasn't so specifically aimed at you. Bad taste, and I am sorry.

But I find it hard to imagine sailing without understanding and performing basic repairs. It is as much a part of sailing as knowing how to get off a sand bar without help or dock under sail. I may not want to do those things, but I know how.

I also felt the OP was possibly trying to learn and to save a buck. Sailing is an expensive hobby, only within the reach of many if they can be self reliant. Sail slugs belong in any basic sail repair kit and generally I would always have a few on-hand, no waiting. It was worth conveying that Sail Rite is a lower cost alternative and a resource for many canvas supply.