Cliff:
I put on a Tides Marine Strong Track a year ago as part of replacing my main sail. I also had one on a prior boat, and think they are great. Before installing on my C34 I had a harder time dropping the main all the way. The main raised pretty well.
I installed it myself. The hardest part is feeding the long track up the slot on the mast. As I remember, I had to remove the goose neck and boom to do this, and used an impact driver to remove the bolts holding on the gooseneck fitting. If it hasn't been off since 1990--and I don't think mine had--the impact driver and correct bit really helps.
The other issue is that the track requires the "gate" opening (where you feed the slugs on your luff, and where the Strong Track slides in) to be a certain minimum length. I discovered that the gate on my 1990 standard rig was not long enough. So, using a Dremel and cutting disc, I carefully cut/removed 1.5-2 inches of the slot above the top part of the gate to increase its length. The track then fed smoothly up the mast.
Strong Track has detailed measuring instructions and a work booklet to help make sure you measure carefully, and several times. If you don't have one, buy a 100 ft measuring tape and reel at Home Boys and put a small shackle on the end. I have used that for all kinds of measurements when replacing sails.
I really like the system. Because I replaced my main sail at the same time, I was able to put the new Rutgerson slugs and cars on the new main when it was built.
Patches
