Sail carts
I have an ancient mast on Meritaten and things are getting tricky if I need to get spare sail carts. The ones I’m using, nylon carts, are getting old and break quite often at heavier winds.
I have now run out of spares and started using steel carts which I got from sailmaker in Poland. These, however robust and indestructible, do not fit quite well. Sometimes the mainsail will not glide down causing frustration in the crew (me) and making situation dangerous at heavy wind.
There is no way to buy these carts anymore. Either I change rail system on the mast - which is not worth it as the mast is old - or I make new carts.
I attempted making them in Teflon at first. The white one is a prototype, too tight as it turned out. Its elaborate form took me quite some time to manufacture so I re-designed the thing and came out with simpler design. Here I don’t need to use any special blades, just standard router bits.
The new prototype, black one, is made of Delrin. Probably not best suited for this job as Delrin is very hard but it is what I had at hand.
I went to the boatyard to try it on my mast. It was not trivial to find it on winter stands - everything is still covered with heavy tarp. Eventually I managed and the black cart fitted perfectly!
Now I will make a complete set in Teflon. Sailing season is coming!