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I discovered a disturbing fact yesterday:
My jib tracks have NEVER been re-bedded in my boat's entire lifetime.
The tracks are flat, stainless steel with a teak standoff underneath, which allows the jib cars to slide along the track. Modern tracks are a "T", with the standoff being part of the extrusion. The teak standoff on my stbd track began to disintegrate and allow water into the cabin, specifically, wetting the galley and pantry storage.
When my buddy and I went to remove the track, we discovered that the nuts on the underside were partially covered by a flap of fiberglass cloth from the original build. This made them inaccessible, which is how I know that the job had never been done.
I have long considered upgrading to modern, aluminum T-track, but it was expensive and difficult to find in my existing bolt pattern. I just didn't want to fill all of those holes and drill new holes, just to accommodate a new style of track.
My buddy and I ended up ripping new, larger, stronger standoffs from HDPE, counter-sinking the existing holes, re-using the flat, SS track and bedding the whole thing in Maine Sail's butyl tape.
Hmm... now that I think about it, when comparing to the expense and hassle of filling and drilling new tracks, I'm not so sure I did it the hard way after all.
I'm looking forward to getting the rail wet to see if it leaks.
My jib tracks have NEVER been re-bedded in my boat's entire lifetime.
The tracks are flat, stainless steel with a teak standoff underneath, which allows the jib cars to slide along the track. Modern tracks are a "T", with the standoff being part of the extrusion. The teak standoff on my stbd track began to disintegrate and allow water into the cabin, specifically, wetting the galley and pantry storage.
When my buddy and I went to remove the track, we discovered that the nuts on the underside were partially covered by a flap of fiberglass cloth from the original build. This made them inaccessible, which is how I know that the job had never been done.
I have long considered upgrading to modern, aluminum T-track, but it was expensive and difficult to find in my existing bolt pattern. I just didn't want to fill all of those holes and drill new holes, just to accommodate a new style of track.
My buddy and I ended up ripping new, larger, stronger standoffs from HDPE, counter-sinking the existing holes, re-using the flat, SS track and bedding the whole thing in Maine Sail's butyl tape.
Hmm... now that I think about it, when comparing to the expense and hassle of filling and drilling new tracks, I'm not so sure I did it the hard way after all.
I'm looking forward to getting the rail wet to see if it leaks.
