I added a mast track to Nimue to fly a spinnaker. I bought a 6' x 1.25" track from Garhauer. 8' might have been better but 6' is the cutoff for cheap shipping and is adequate. I got Garhauer to make a pin-stop car with a big SS ring on it to attach the pole to. I don't remember what the track cost (it is in their catalog) but the car was under $40, the Schaeffer equivalent was well over $100.

The track uses 5/16" fasteners, which I tapped into the mast, and I put end fittings on it to keep the car attached (in fact I stole the end caps from the toe-rail T-track, but newer boats don't have this).

The track starts about a foot up from the partners so that I can slide the spartite up if I need to, and goes as high as I could reasonably reach anyways. If I had gone with a car with rope adjusters on it, I would have really wanted a little more track to play with.

The sliding pole ring also makes a nice height-adjustable step to climb up on when doing up the sail cover or attaching the main halyard.

Eric,
I added a track to the front of Julandra's mast exactly like Nimue's. 8' of track, starting 8" off the deck. It's the larger of the two sizes of track available (1.25") Pin-stop car with plastic sliders. Drilled and tapped the machine screws into the mast. End stops on both ends. I also stored the spinnaker pole there in front of the mast. Worked very well for me.

You will save a lot of cash with Garhauer. 6' is a good length of track - this is just enough to swing a J length pole inside your furling unit with the mast end all the way to the top.

The seam is actually a good thing, it helps you line up the holes straight on the front of the mast.

[QUOTE=ErikJohnson;5134]Very good, thanks for the suggestions. I'm just putting together a little shopping list and want to make sure I have everything covered.

I haven't look at Garhauer yet, but from Forspar, I have these parts (retail price):
[LIST]
[*]whisker pole 12-22, $1,221.75
[*]mast car RC 125, $110.90
[*]mast track T-track (5 feet), $157.80
[*]track stops AS-125, $10.60
[/LIST]

But now you guys have me wondering if 5 feet of track is enough. Also, there's a little "seam" in the front of the mast; a little grove. I suppose that's not an issue? Just drill the holes right through it?

thanks!
-Erik[/QUOTE]

Erik,
What length of track did you end up going with? With the mast storage recommendations from Forespar, where the mast end of the pole just slides up the track, it seems to me that around 10' of track is actually needed.

Measure twice, cut once. :)

We find the adjustable car with the blocks to be far superior to a track stop car. You can do a dip pole gybe if you connect the pole to a short loop of line through the sail clew by raising the inboard end. Can't do that with a track stop car. It costs more but I think it's worth it.

Eric,

I'm in SoCal a couple of times a month and might be persuaded to bring an 8' length of track north for you.

I usually race up and down I5 but could detour over to 101/1 for you.

let me know.

Mark