At some point during the 150 mile tow home Sunday night, my rear mast support disappeared, leaving the mast of my SC19 to beat the piss out of the rear lip of the traveler track with every bump in the road. I'm told that the look on my face was priceless at the moment of realization. The middle 16" or so will not allow the car to pass. the mast (rides with the luff groove down) somehow looked undamaged at first casual inspection.
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<br>Before I spend several hours with a ball-peen trying to forge this thing back into shape, I wonder if anyone out there has had a similar experience and can tell me if I might just as well bite the bullet and replace the track.
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<br>What are my chances of getting this thing back into good enough shape to let the car slide while under load?
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<br>What (roughly) does a new 8' track cost, and how much of a nutbuster is the removal/replacement process?
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You'll need a new travler track. The small bearings don't like imperfections and will wear very rapidly if the track isn't smooth. I think the travelers used on the cats are overloaded under the best circumstances. I.ve pulled mine off the track twice now and I replace the bearings every 2 years at a ripoff of $25 a shot. <br><br>Murrey's has the 7' track, which is probably the length you need for $85. You can also order directly from Harken. It's probably the same price but their site was down so I couldn't check<br><br>

yep - I was looking to do the same for my Nacra 5.2 but elected to leave as is for now (it's not that bad). Also agree on the $85 - Harkan is the same $$ as Murrays (you might want to check APS though - they are sometimes lower).
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<br>This forum also taught me a trick to load the bearings in the traveler car that I would have never figured out myself. Lube everything up with KY-jelly (I know, I know,....). Seriously, it will hold everything in place while you assemble it and is water soluble so you can wash it out. The last thing you need is grease in there to hold sand and dirt.
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<br>www.apsltd.com<br><br>[color:blue][b]Jake
<br>[color:blue][b]Nacra 5.2 (2112)

The imperfections in the track will wear out your traveler car balls very quickly, it will feel sticky. As far as attaching the track, make sure you use either red Loctite or T-9 to seal off the ss bolts from alu.
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<br>s.<br><br>

A couple of suggestions for y'all...
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<br>KY will work, but for a mere $9 you can purchase the plastic loader from Harken. Boy, it's worth it.
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<br>I can't remember offhand the diameter of the bearing balls, but if you get that info, you can go over to McMaster-Carr (www.mcmastercarr.com) and get all the bearings you can stand. Like $10-12 for 100 bearings.
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<br>McMaster-Carr also has Delrin rod stock, great for turning out mast balls. That saved me from having to get that mast support kit from NACRA (I have an older model 18sq).
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<br>sea ya
<br>tami
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what about re-using the track, with the damaged section moved to the "end" of the track, where it's unloaded, and therefore less likely to damage the balls? Cut the track somewhere, and remount the two pieces so the damaged section is not in critical area. May need to add extra screw/mounting holes?<br>Jim Casto<br>N5.5 uni<br><br><br>

Figures... it's a Harken traveler. Lame-o product prob'ly shrugged that support off deliberately then bashed itself up against your mast's luff track. Shoulda replaced it long ago with the cheaper-but so-much-better 'other brand'
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<br>(Sorry, Basket Case, couldn't resist, with 2-count-em-2 harken posts on the same day... please forgive me, if we were in a bar after sailing all day I'd buy you a beer and listen to your tale of woes with interest and sympathy - - sounds like you've taken a shelackin' !!!)<br><br>

cheers<br><br>

I did consider this briefly, but then I realized that the butt-end seam between the two sections of track would now be near the centerline, right where the car experiences its highest loads. Combine that with the likelihood of getting a smooth joint there...... bearings probably wouldn't last a day.
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<br>I've ordered the new track (murray's hadn't heard from me in a few weeks. wouldn't want them to worry), but I still haven't even explored what kind of job this is. I desperately hope that all those mouting screws don't have nuts inside the crossbar!
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<br>besides.... I was getting sick of sailing every weekend. I needed a few weekends off to do yardwork!<br><br>

As for removing/replacing the track, there was some good threads earlier (on the old forum?) about this. There seemed to be several comon themes.<br>1. "Sheet Metal Screws" (ie tapered threads) are not good.<br>2. "Machine screws" are better, but with thin cross-section of aluminum cross-beam, not enoughof the thread "bites" into aluminum beam, also not good.<br>3. Long bolts through beam, so that nuts are accessible on backside of beam, are not necessary. And, it means ther's a hole in both sides of the beam anyway.<br>4. Short machine screws with locknuts inside rear tube are preferred solution, but how to access these nuts inside a long tube elicited several interesting ideas, none of which seemed feasible when the originator mentioned he had a 16 foot beam.<br>5. Holes in backside of beam are quite common (e.g. NACRAs), These allow access to nuts by a nut-driver or small socket extension bar. These holes do not adversely reduce strength of cross-beam, if they are small, round and smooth-edged.<br><br>

My H16 and H14 use pop rivets to hold down the track. I had to remove a couple to replace a traveller. I used a pop riveter to replace them. and have used pop rivets on my mast. I have never had a failure. (knock on wood) If anyone knows why this is not a reasonable option, then please reply.
<br>Greg H14, H16<br><br>

How long does the T-9 last in an application like this? (I'm looking for the best way to prevent the dissimilar metals corrosion I'm experiencing where my mast rotator's SS bolt attaches through the bottom of the mast.)<br><br> Kevin Rose
<br>N6.0na #215
<br>kevin@paddleways.com
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I'm skeptical about the rivets for two reasons....
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<br>-when I had to do some track riveting on my old H16 (can't remember why), I remember that those heavy steel rivets were NOT easy to pop.
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<br>- the current (I suspect original) track is secured with flathead screws, and I'd like to stay apples=apples if possible. my only modification might be to switch to phillips screws or allen-heads simply because I have a very real and personal hatred for flathead screws. I'm sure some of you have seen my occasional mindless rants on why they should NEVER be used on boats.....
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<br>I haven't actually popped the crossbar endcap off yet to peek inside and see what I'm in for (mainly because the replacement track hasn't arrived yet), but I can't imagine that I'll need to do anything more severe than welding a box-wrench to a 6' rod in order to get things to work out. I'm just being a baby about it because I've lost 3 weekends of GREAT weather so far.<br><br>

i threaded machine screws into my 1/8" wall beam and have had no problems with it.<br><br>

recommend that you run from the allen head screws - they do not like the extra torque needed to remove them after they've been set a while. We've had a similar SS/Aluminum application on some wet machinery that we ended up using torx screws (although I wouldn't recommend that due to cost and availability and finding the right (*$#))_@@&&# sized driver).<br><br>[color:blue][b]Jake
<br>[color:blue][b]Nacra 5.2 (2112)