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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Missing sail slug?

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/03/2010 : 13:43:18

I've been very unhappy with my sail shape lately. The upper part has been OK, but down near the tack has been horrible. Yesterday I attached some cord to the Cunningham to apply a little downward tension, but it did not help as much as I hoped. Then all of a sudden I looked up and saw something that should have been obvious all along. There were two unused cringles about halfway between the boom and the lowest sail slug. It sure looks to me like there should be another sail slug there, but there was not. I snapped a pic:

Can you guys confirm that these two closely-spaced cringles (just below the first reef) should, in fact, have a sail slug attached to them? Or does it interfere with the reefing rigging?

When I bought the boat there was an extra sail slug loose in one of the galley cubbies, and I guess that is the missing one. So I took some 1/4" Nylon diamond braid and looped it through the cringles and the extra slug, and slid it onto the mast (no pic of this yet). I have not yet sailed with this additional attachment. If you think this might damage the sail (perhaps due to torquing caused by using round line instead of flatter fabric), please let me know because we're headed out soon.

Now that I look at the pic, I can see that a permanently attached sail slug would hit the sail stop and prevent pulling down that reefing point as much as it should. Perhaps some sort of snap clip should be attached to the sail for temporary attachment to an extra slug.

The other slugs are all sewn on with nice reinforced fabric tie-offs. Can anyone suggest where I could find some of those fabric tie-offs - or, at least, some flat or oval line that might work better than the normal round line that I have used?

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - TakeFive on 07/03/2010 13:56:36

John Russell
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Response Posted - 07/03/2010 : 13:54:17

Interesting. I bought mine the same way. I just assumed that it broke and the PO had removed the canvas. I had it replaced when I had the sail cleaned over the winter. Now I'm curious if there was ever one there in the first place.

Edited by - John Russell on 07/03/2010 13:55:28

TakeFive
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Response Posted - 07/03/2010 : 13:55:24

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by John Russell
 Interesting. I bought mine the same way. I just assumed that it broke and the PO had removed the canvas. I had it replaced when I had the sail cleaned over the winter.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
John - Please see the edits that I added. How does your reefing work with the additional slug permanently attached?

Edited by - on

John Russell
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Response Posted - 07/03/2010 : 13:57:10

Actually, I've yet to reef and just thought about the same thing as you were typing your edits. I'll check the next time at the boat.

Edit to add: I should have said I haven't reefed successfully since adding the slug. I had some problems but didn't connect it to this but the more I think of it, this might have been the precise reason for the problems I was having. Will check next time out.

Edited by - John Russell on 07/03/2010 14:00:25

britinusa
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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 07/03/2010 : 14:43:43

On our 2005 model, there is a xtra slug that is attached via some line to cringles in about the same position. I belive they are there to allow for reefing.

Paul

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 07/03/2010 : 20:16:06

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 On our 2005 model, there is a xtra slug that is attached via some line to cringles in about the same position. I belive they are there to allow for reefing.

Paul
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Paul or others,

Could you or someone else with a similar setup please give more details about how it is connected, whether you need to disconnect it to reef, etc.?

My wife and I went for an evening sail with the cringles connected, and our sail shape was significanly better. There was a small wrinkle because the cringles were slightly pinched toward each other (my connecting line was too short), but the huge pocket in the sail was gone, and (most importantly) the foil shape was almost perfect, with the apex of the curve about 1/3 back. So I need to figure out how to keep this thing connected, yet maintain my ability to reef.

I went back and looked at a thread on reefing and found this picture from Randy:

<center>

</center>

If you look closely you can see that he has the extra slug at the very bottom of his mast track with a line attached to it. This highlights another interesting piece of hardware. My boat came with no sail stop at all. The inept previous owner who appeared to have never done a successful sail during his ~6 months of ownership didn't even know what a sail stop was. Needing something to keep the slugs in the slot, I bought an aftermarket stop from West Marine (which you can see in my picture above). It looks like Randy's boat has an insert that narrows the slot opening but still allows the slugs to pass through to the bottom of the track. Is this another custom Catalina item that I need to add to my growing list of genuine Catalina replacement parts? It would be really helpful if other C250 owners could chime in on this topic, since it's one that every C250 owner has had to deal with.

Edited by - TakeFive on 07/03/2010 20:19:10

John Russell
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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 07:17:27

I have the mast gate like Randy's. I just don't know if the slug slid down below it during my failed reefing attempt. Looking at the photo, I'd bet it did. I've never really paid attention when I drop the sail at the end of the day to see if the slugs drop below the gate.

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 07:53:10

I think this is what you are missing. Would also recommend you get a mast-gate which would allow for smoother operation of the slugs and prevent sail bunching at the stop.

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Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 08:29:25

What Frog said. Get rid of the track stop and get a mast gate. The slugs drop below the mast gate.

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 08:36:45

Thanks, guys! This forum is really a great place for picking up all the little tricks. I am grateful for you guys taking the time to share your ideas.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
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Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 08:41:57

Here are a couple of photos of my sail.. That lowest slug (just below the first reefing point) is held on differently than the others, probably to allow the track stop - but don't use a track stop, use the mast gate. Forgive the bad sail shape in the second photo.

Edited by - Nautiduck on 07/04/2010 15:18:42

britinusa
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5404 Posts

Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 08:53:41

The additional slug on the line attached via those 3 cringles allows the slug to remain above the standard removable gate screw (the one with the 1"diameter knurled head.) when the sail is reefed.

If you install a mast gate, like the one Randy shows above, the slugs can slide down beyond the gate, I'm not sure if the slug-n-cringle setup is any advantage in that case.

However, if you trailer your boat, then the fixed gate is just another step required when you prep the boat.

For us, that have to trailer the boat for trip out, the gate would be an annoyance and you know that the screw threads attaching the gate to the mast would be an opportunity for failure after frequent reinstall of the gate plate.

JMHO.

Paul

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 13:37:19

I went down to the boat and re-attached the slug like Randy's picture. I even found the line that had originally been used for this, perfectly sized with the knot on one end melted to prevent it coming undone.

I'll consider the mast gate in the future, but for now the factory default arrangement is a dramatic improvement over what I had before.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
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USA
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Response Posted - 07/04/2010 : 15:23:38

I can see that if you trailer sail then every step that you can eliminate is worth it. We starting using a mast gate on our C22. Getting the sail slugs to all go very low allows for very compact flaking - and Pat insists on proper flaking.

I remember the first time we reefed on the C250. It was howling. The sail wouldn't drop low enough so I removed the mast stop. Then the sail did drop and every slug shot out of the wide part of the slot.

It was exciting.

Edited by - Nautiduck on 07/04/2010 15:29:44

jbkayaker
Captain

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USA
299 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2010 : 16:53:40

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Nautiduck
 ....

[url="http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=1014&ParentCat=235"]Mast Gate[/url]

You will use only one side of the gate but you have to buy two. Sell the other to a fellow C250 sailor like I did.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I would like to split a pair if one side is all that is needed. Contact jbkayaker msn com

Edited by - on

watercayman
1st Mate

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Cayman Islands
49 Posts

Response Posted - 07/10/2010 : 07:04:04

Just had a huge 'ah-ha!' moment seeing this thread and finally letting it soak in. Reefing (which I have to do quite a bit) is a huge pain in the neck on the 250 with a track stop. I just had no idea (I hadn't yet researched this here!) that there was such a neat solution.

JB- I sent you a PM - I'd love to get one of these things.

Thanks everyone - once again made my sailing life much better!

Edited by - on

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