Mainsail slugs/sliders?

[Pacamac-uk]

Can anyone advise the best spacing for slugs on the mainsail? Sizes?

Also when fitting using nylon shackles how do you decide what size is best?

I know this has been covered before but I'm blowed if I can find the thread using search! My apologies offered for being a nuisance.

[Hardcrab]

When I installed mine, almost two years ago, I believe I used 18" - 20" centers, starting from the head.
I installed two slugs close together at the head, thinking there might be more stresses there while hoisting and dropping.
(I'm not sure it's true, but it dosen't hurt anything).

When you get to the area just above and below the reefing point, forget the 18" spacing and install the slugs with spacing that allows for reefing without needing to remove any slugs from the mast channel. Then finish with the last one or two at the 18" spacing.

It was easy to get the correct "reefing" slug spacing by raising the sail on the normal bolt rope first, reef the sail, then mark the sail for these special upper and lower slug positions. I got the idea from FrankC, and it's the way to go.

The screw-on nylon slugs have worked very well for me. I used a fine tip hot soldering iron to "drill" the small hole through the sail so as to not snag the dacron threads while installing the slug screw.
Good Luck. It's an easy job to do.

[bastonjock]

pacamac,i ordered my slugs and sliders from sailrite in the US,its one of my jobs for either this weekend or the next