Sail track for wooden mast ?

[Dragan]

* I am building 34 foot steel sail boat ,and I want to build ( square hollow ) wooden* mast . Easy hoisting , reefing and lowering is important for me , because I will mostly sail single-handed . So - excellent sail track and sliders is must for me . The only one ( but expensive ) solution* I know is Harken track and cars , So I want to ask is there any other manufacturer of ( good ) sail tracks , and sliders , but with better price ?Also I* would like to hear personal experiences from people who have wooden masts .
* Thanks in advance* Dragan

[JimConlin]

There are other vendors of roller track systems. Try Antal, Fredericksen, Tides Marine, (maybe) Lewmar.
For a 34' boat, i'd wonder whether the simple old-style of stainless sail track
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might do the job. It's still available.

If the ascii art doesn't work, sorry.

[Bayboat]

Hi Dragan: As Jim Conlin suggests, there is no reason why stainless track and regular slides would not work. I have 42 feet of it on a hollow wooden box mast that has worked for over half a century, on a 34-foot sloop that I often single-hand. It will work best on a half-inch square batten, tapered at the top near the halyard sheave to avoid chafe.
Use copper or bronze nails to fasten the bedded batten, and stainless pan-head screws to fasten the track to the batten. If you fasten the track straight, and keep it lightly waxed, the sail will come down slicker than %$#@. You can install the same setup on the main boom. Clint.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

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And if you don't happen to like stainless, bronze is available (in limited sizes) from, say, Classic Marine in the UK.
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