One of the slides that hold the mainsail in the mast track was very worn down. Whenever the wind picked up, it would pop out of the track, leaving us with less than ideal sail shape.
Replacing it was not a big job, but it never seemed to make it up the list of priorities. Eventually, I got around to doing it one day when I was just hanging out at the boat waiting for the commute traffic to clear.
The previous owner had left a few new slides on the boat, and I already had whipping twine, so I just needed a good heavy needle and a sailmaker’s palm.
I used a seem ripper to cut the old thread holding the webbing together, then removed the old slide.
Next I wrapped the webbing through the new slide and stitched it up with the whipping twine.
Now it goes up more smoothly, and stays put in the track.
