Typhoon reefing - mast gate?

[Ben Miller]

I'm curious to hear how other Typhoon owners deal with lowering their main to reef. (Or non-Typhoon owners too, for that matter.) Right now the sail track on my mast looks like this:

[masthead]
[..etc...]
[slide]
[slide]
[sail track stop]
[feed slot]
[boom gooseneck]

There are a couple of problems with this setup. I've lost two sail stops so far because no matter how hard I tighten the little thumbwheel, it's not enough to 100% prevent the stop from sliding down into the feed slot, bouncing off the cabin top, and dropping in the water. Also, because there's a decent space between the gooseneck and the top of the sail stop (when it stays in place) I can't lower the main sail fully so that it compactly stacks on top of the boom when reefing.

Something like a mast gate looks like it would solve both problems and do it well. Does anyone on the board have experience with this? Or another idea?

[tjr818]

I do think a Mast gate would be better. With a mast gate you only have to worry about dropping the cotter pin into the water and cotter pins are cheap.

[keneasley]

A few years ago I bought a mastgate for my Sea Sprite Weekender 23.
They did a great job in making one to custom fit my mast.
And it did make reefing easier.
I bought the one that incorporates a small shock cord.

It was inexpensive and easy to install (I got a pair of curved hemostat forceps on Amazon which made it simple to install the small shock cord for the mastgate).

They also make a track stop that has a very sturdy quick release mechanism similar to a bicycle wheel.

[robwm]

I bought and installed a Mast Gate on my CD22 last year. There are two versions offered, one that requires the drilling of a couple of holes in the mast and an "internal" version that requires no drilling. I went for the "internal" version held in place by pressure; it consist of a half-tube which is fabricated so its outside perimeter is slightly larger than the perimeter inside the mast and is retained in place by the pressure due to this difference and the gate's surface bridging across the mast opening.

The gate consists of a printed plastic material that is custom fabricated using measurements that you'll have to provide. In my case there were several fitting iterations of prototypes before we achieved a good (perfect) fit. Initially I had reservations about the ability of the plastic material to retain its shape while being heated during the +/- 100 degree summer days here. However, the gate has now undergone two summers with extended periods of high temperatures here with no appreciably loss of fit or deformation.

The process of getting a good fit is rather fiddly but not difficult, just requires some patience and a couple of back and forth mailings of prototypes. Tom is easy to work with and very patient.

For me this was a really good improvement and has made raising and lowering the main much easier, particularly when I am sailing alone which is essentially all the time. I also hated having to chase, and loose, those devilish knurled knobs as they bounced around the deck. Were I to get a new vessel without a gate I would invest in one again.

I don't have a photo of the gate right now. I will try to get one this weekend and will post it as soon as I do.

Robert

[s2sailorlis]

See my post from earlier with pictures...Mastgates.com. Cheap and fit great. No issues with dropping sails, reefing, etc.

http://www.capedory.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36795

[wikakaru]

I have both types of mast gates from mastgate.com. My Typhoon has the 3D-printed plastic pop-in insert, and my CD22 has the stainless sleeve overlays. Here is my experience with both of them:

PLASTIC INSERT
I had to measure and photograph the gate opening in the mast as well photograph and measure the mast cross-section looking from the bottom of the gate and provide all the photos and measurements to mastgate.com. I think I may have been the guinea pig on the Typhoon gate's development, because we went through 5 iterations of the insert until we got to the final version, and there were significant changes in each iteration. This was in February and March of 2018. Hopefully other Typhoon owners who have had a one of these 3D printed since then just have to provide a simple measurement of the gate opening size. (Apparently gate openings in the mast were hand-cut by the factory and differ slightly in size.)

The plastic insert is dirt simple to install and remove, though I find that my sail slugs almost always catch when raising the sail. It requires stopping at each slug, jiggling the halyard (or reaching forward and sliding the slug through the gate by hand), and raising the sail to the next slug where you do it all again. Slugs don't seem to jam on the way down.

DSC_5302.JPG

STAINLESS COVERS
There was no measuring involved, though I did have to convince Tom at mastgate.com that I really wanted the stainless kind instead of the plastic 3D printed insert.

The stainless covers were a pain to install. They required grinding 4 notches out around the mast cutout, wedging the gates in place with wooden shims, drilling holes in the mast to secure the gates, and installing plastic rivets. This wouldn't have been too hard in a boatyard or in my back yard, but I did it on my mooring without access to electricity. I started with a hand file and realized it would take forever, so I had to buy a drill-attached cut-off wheel and carefully grind away the cutouts with the cutoff wheel inserted in a cordless drill. I got most of the metal removed that way, then fine-tuned the last little bit again by hand with a file. Then I realized that I had forgotten the wooden shims and had to row ashore and drive 40 minutes to the hardware store. The whole installation process took me a couple of days. A well-organized person with the proper tools already at hand could probably do the job in about 30 minutes to an hour.

I think that the metal covers work a little better for me than the plastic insert. There is a little friction in the system with the metal covers, but the sail does raise without having to help each slug through the gate. It sometimes requires a little help getting the slugs through the gate on the way down, but more just pushing the whole stack down at once, not one-at-a-time as I have to do with the my Typhoon when raising the sail.

IMG_6887.JPG

I can't pick a clear winner between the plastic insert and the metal gate. Neither one is perfect but they both work well enough that they were worth spending the money on. On the whole I think I made the right choice: plastic inserts on the Typhoon where the loads are less and I rarely reef the boat, and metal covers on my CD22 since I reef frequently and want a little extra strength and security at the gate opening.

Smooth sailing,

--Jim

[Ben Miller]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Sounds like the mast gate is indeed an effective solution.

[keneasley]

June_26_2014_mast_gate.JPG

two pictures of the mastgate that I used.
It had small elastic cords that allowed one to push the gate in so that the slugs could be removed when needed. But otherwise it stayed tight to hold the slugs in.

[wikakaru]

two pictures of the mastgate that I used.
It had small elastic cords that allowed one to push the gate in so that the slugs could be removed when needed. But otherwise it stayed tight to hold the slugs in.

Your mast has a single cutout. This type of gate looks like a good solution for that arrangement. The original poster has a Typhoon with dual cutouts. I'm not sure this arrangement would work for him.

--Jim

[robwm]

As a follow up to my earlier posting regarding the "internal" MastGate I have on my CD22, here are photos of the final version as installed and currently in use, and, the next to final prototype showing its shape.

Also, while I have one cutout on my mast I don't see any reason why a similar gate wouldn't be able to be fabricated for a mast with cutouts on both sides of the track. Tom at MastGate will certainly let you know if that is not possible.