Mast Gate Solution?

[Sea Wind]

Has anyone tried this:

http://mastgates.com/How_to_Order.htmlThey say that they have made them for the and .

I called BWY and they said that they are not making them anymore.

Any other suggestions? Summer's solution is way beyond my limited skills.

Thanks,

Sea Wind

[phoenixtoohot]

I made one just like that, and it works great. You can get small sheets of aluminum or galvanized metal and mini bungees at Home Depot. Took me about 30 minutes.

[Harry van der Meer]

A mast gate is not really needed. I have the following, which works very well:

1. Use a sail stop right above the slot.
2. Bottom 3 sail slugs are on a separate rope, which allows the reefing cringle to come close to the boom. This was put in by BWY when they put in the second reef point in my sail.
3. Use a short piece of 1/4" line and a 1" stainless ring attached to the reefing cringle to be able to attach the reefed sail to the reef hook on the mast. It is difficult to attach the reefing cringle in the sail to the reef hook directly.

Hoper this helps.

Harry

[Sea Wind]

Thanks guys.

phoenixtoohot: Did you cut the "sail slot" in the mast for the opening or you just placed aluminum on the sides? any pictures?

Harry: I have thought of something similar for reefing, I usually reef before I leave and put the bottom slugs in the lower portion of the gate, the sail stop is above the gap holding the rest of the slugs, this way I can use the reefing cringle in the hook. My goal is to build a stack pack and now I can see the benefit of having all the slugs go as far down as possible to reduce the height (hence drag) of the cover.

Sea Wind.

[c130king]

Pedro,

Not sure how big your "gap" is on the mast track. I have seen some of the new masts and they have a really long/large "gap". But mine is pretty short/small...just barely big enough to squeeze in a single slug and it is right down against the goose neck...no wasted space. I used a sail slug stopper for a few years but lost two of them...

So now I just take a bungee cord tightly around the mast just above the "gap" or "slot" or whatever you want to call it. The bottom slug will come down to the bungee cord and stop. If I had a "mast gate" that would allow the slugs to go as low as possible then maybe I could get my reefing point about 2" lower...not enough to worry about. When I reef the main the bottom slugs (below the reefing cringle) just stack up on the bungee coord.

Cheap and it works just fine. And it adds a nice splash of color. I use a red bungee cord because the blue bungees tend to slow me down...

Cheers,
Jim

[phoenixtoohot]

Sea Wind:

My mast slot is about 6 inches long and about 20 inches above the boom and right next to the two horn cleats on each side of the mast. As such, the "bungee stop" or "sail stop" device did not work for me, becuase the cutout was too high (sails bunched up almost 2 to 4 feet above the boom, and/or the "bungee stop" interfered with the cleats.

As far as pictures, it's on the boat at the marina, but I just copied the "MastGate" design on your original link. I like this because it's so easy to move out of the way and it alows my sail to drop all the way to the boom. Takes about an hour to make with vise, pliers, snips and file. I just eyeballed dimensions ... not as critical as the "mastgate" website implies.

Larry

[seahouse]

Search under "Mac Mods".

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/in ... ?view=1640

The above mod is for late model masted "M"s. Other proposed solutions for earlier models are not applicable to the newer masts, apparently.

- Brian.

ps. Maybe a website glitch, or a MacBook Air incompatibility, but you might have to copy and paste the URL into your address bar.

[K9Kampers]

Brian-
Here is the correct link:

LINK

the end of your link should look like this: ...1640[/url]

[seahouse]

Thanks K9

Hey nice catch! Html courses must have been longer ago for me than you? I should have picked that up - easier to see now back on my PC. All fixed now!
- B.

[restless]

I've scracthed my head on this for ages, came up with this solution that really is easy peasy and cheap as chips! (fries to you?)

http://www.ironengineer.com/mac/minimod ... index.html

[seahouse]

Hey Restless-

Great solution. But it won't work on current masts - see above.

- Brian.

[Sea Wind]

Thanks guys.
Restless: very nice mod. Was your mast opening originally like this:
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/in ... ewimg=1864
This is the other solution that I had in mind but not sure about the removable piece for trailering

Sea Wind

[Doug91mac26s]

Thanks guys.
Restless: very nice mod. Was your mast opening originally like this:
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/in ... ewimg=1864
This is the other solution that I had in mind but not sure about the removable piece for trailering

Sea Wind

Sea Wind, can you provide more info about your solution? What is that black insert in the pic? Looks like my mast slug opening, might work for me. But How did you make it?

[Sea Wind]

That is not my solution, it is in the Mods section.

Sea Wind

[restless]

My mast used to look like the one in the photo, tho dunno what the black bit is about. Didn't realize the gates had been changed on the later versions.
When trailering any distance I pop the gate in my special bolts and widgets drawer by my henweigh