MacGregorSailors.com

I have been looking at a few of the creative ways some of you have put a mast gate on the mast, but nobody seems to have the kind of mast groove I have. (??)
Has anybody come up with a mast gate for this style of mast groove?

Are you referring to sail stop. Do you have rope luff or sails slugs. Sail stop fits inside of track and prevents sail from coming out of track. This only works if you have slugs. Other way is to wrap bungee around mast just above slot opening. Fair winds and full sails. Old Salt.

the sail stop may work for this configuration. The problem can be that the sail stop keep the sail too high and you cannot get the sail cover on it. I believe these types of slots are lower on the mast alleviating this problem.

Sail stops are a frequent offering to Davy Jones!

jschrade wrote: The problem can be that the sail stop keep the sail too high and you cannot get the sail cover on it.

Exactly the problem I ran into with the newer (2010) mast. The sail stop was great but it left way too much sail deployed and impossible to put the boot on. I was able to buy the single sided gate from BWY. I can't tell from your picture if two of those would suffice for your mast; however, after looking at the gate, I believe it would be easy to go to a local hardware or box-hardware store and buy a strip of aluminum and fabricate your own.

I don't have pictures of my gate yet but it has to be screwed on every time I rig. I picked up a cheap battery screwdriver for the boat's toolkit in order to make it easier (a.k.a. faster) to rig.

...Doug (2012 Vice Commodore & Fleet Captain, MTLSA)
Galactica
http://starsloop.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/StarSloop?feature=mhee

Doug,
I'm not with you as in how it works with this kind of groove? Is the newest Mac mast different to what I have? I had a look in the BWY cataloge but couldnt find any gates. I'm not sure how to fashion one that would allow the slugs to slide down past it

Do a forum search, keyword, mastgate. You will find some modsmembers have done for this same problem.
I fabricated a gate from aluminum stock and attach it to the opening. It now allows the sail to come down almost to the boom.

Wally

Yes, I have searched, and it looks easy to fashion something for the standard type of opening, but cant find anything or work out how to do something that will work with this type of groove where both sides open right up.

Mac26Mpaul wrote:Yes, I have searched, and it looks easy to fashion something for the standard type of opening, but cant find anything or work out how to do something that will work with this type of groove where both sides open right up.

I was looking at doing something like this http://www.mastgates.com/Home_Page.html

It may be what you are looking for.

Look at sumner's web site http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... ng-13.html
I used his basic concept and modified it for my . Instead of the 1/2"rod I configured a round 1/2"insert welded a screw onto it and than used a knurl nut to attach it. This works just like a sail stop, only I place it as low as possible. Sorry no pics
Wally

Very interesting thanks

Mac26Mpaul wrote:I have been looking at a few of the creative ways some of you have put a mast gate on the mast, but nobody seems to have the kind of mast groove I have. (??)
Has anybody come up with a mast gate for this style of mast groove?

That is the same type of opening that the has.
I recently bought the external hinge from mastgates.com (see link above) and it works great. I closed the original gate and opened a new one on one side of the mast similar to the new gate, it is placed higher than the original so that all the slugs come down all the way to the boom.
The entire project took about an hour including measuring, hammering, cutting and drilling. It is not the cheapest solution but it works great.
The BWY gate is for the newer only.

Sea Wind

Sea Wind wrote:I recently bought the external hinge from mastgates.com (see link above) and it works great. I closed the original gate and opened a new one on one side of the mast similar to the new gate, it is placed higher than the original so that all the slugs come down all the way to the boom.
The entire project took about an hour including measuring, hammering, cutting and drilling. It is not the cheapest solution but it works great. Sea Wind

Sea Wind, Do you have any photos of your installation, I am just curious how it turned out.

Okay, so I have a question.

What do you call this thing with the red arrow? I don't have one and have rigged something weird to do the job. I have a bolt that connect the tube and that's it. What is that U shaped thing called and where can you get one?

Not sure, but you could email BWY this picture and ask them if they sell that part or this style of gooseneck..

It's called a clew hook. Some people call it a reefing hook. There are some available that you could bolt directly to the mast. Very simple...