Teflon sail slides

During the last sailing of this season one more sail slide snapped. They all are very old and Nylon, after 60 years of service, is giving up. I don’t have any more spares - it is impossible to buy these nowadays, my sail rail is of old and unusual design.
Sail slides which I got with new mainsail do not work smooth enough, even after re-work, so I’ve decided to make my own slides.

To minimise friction I’ve decided to use Teflon instead of Nylon. Not only it lubricates itself but also is hydrophobic, very resistant to heat and UV and is very pleasant to work with.

My first attempt failed - the opening for rail was too small and the whole piece too thin (I’ve made it from a scrap piece laying in the workshop).

The second version works much better: even though I don’t have wide enough router bit to make the cuts deep enough for rail width I used the Teflon ability to withstand temperature and bent it while routing - hence enabling me to reach deeper into the material than the bit normally allows.

Today I tried it on the mast and it fits. Slides as if running on oiled aluminium!

It is still in “raw” shape - edges need to be rounded, track opening made slightly wider and routing for sail shackle is not yet there - but these are small things to be fixed in a couple of minutes.

Right now I just need this one to rise the mainsail but given that the rest of my nylon slides will fail soon I will manufacture the complete set.