Avoid a trip aloft
Issue 59 : Mar/Apr 2008
Every spring I go to the top of the two masts of my schooner, Delphinus, spraying the sailtracks with lubricant along the way. Although many people never do this, I find that it makes raising sail easier. What’s more, when I take my sails down, they drop immediately without the help of downhauling.
Unfortunately, I look forward to this spring job with less enthusiasm every year. Last year, when I was at the top of the mainmast, I looked down at the deck, five stories below me, and thought, “Maybe a guy in his eighties shouldn’t be doing this.”
When I was back down on deck, I began thinking, “There must be an easier way.” My engineering background kicked in. I came up with a device that I thought would work.
Surprisingly, when I finished it (about a three-to-four-hour job) and tried it out, it worked perfectly the fi rst time, with no further modifications or tweaking. My sailtrack lubricator will lubricate the sailtrack all the way to the top of the mast while I stay safely on deck.
The device fits into the sailtrack and can be raised to the top of the mast with the halyard. The halyard also actuates the button on a spray can of lubricant. I use McLube SailKote, which is especially made for this job and seems to do a better job and last much longer than a generic spray can picked up at the local hardware store.
The parts for the lubricator were things I had in my junk box, which holds a collection of items that accumulate in my shop on the maybe-I-can-use-it-someday principle. The base for the lubricator was an old fiberglass batten. The training wheels are wheels from furniture casters. The sailtrack slides were in my kit of spare parts aboard Delphinus. The spray can is held in place by two stainless-steel hose clamps, and the aluminum fittings that create the pivoting arm are scraps from previous projects.
Maybe I’m getting lazy, but I don’t think I’ll miss those yearly trips up the mast any more.
Don Launer , a Good Old Boat contributing editor, has held a USCG captain’s license for more than 20 years. He built his two-masted schoon er, Delphinus, from a bare hull and sails her on Barnegat Bay in New Jersey.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
