Installing new bronze genoa T tracks

[BALANCE]

They go on the caprail, which curves as it goes aft. I'm worried about getting them to bend. I have a come-a-long but I really don't have anything to attach it to for fear of bending or breaking...e.g. stanchion or hand rail. I think the winches are too far aft to be of help.

1. New tracks are about a foot shorter. Which end should lose the last foot, forward or aft? (Yankee cut genoa and running backs, two sets of blocks on each track). One rigger I spoke to thought I should honor the aft end, sacrifice the forward end. Would rather do the opposite as the aft-most bolts are harder to reach down below.

2. Since I'm going through the wood caprail, then the hull deck joint, should I drill and tap? Countersink the wood?

3. What do you suggest I use for bedding the fasteners, or the track for that matter. Boatlife seems like it might only stay viable for a few years?

4. Would you start bolting on the forward end or aft.

In the picture below, you'll see the strbd caprail after doweling. Note the little pad eye on deck, that is in the cockpit, to the right of that, on the bulwarks, you can see one of the three holes where the winch bracket is mounted. I point all this out so you can see how aft the original track went. I've never had the car that far aft...



Lots of questions, sorry, I'd really like to get this right. Anything I'm not asking and should consider?

[Capn_Tom]

Bud says to tap the holes and put nuts on the bolts you can reach and to not worry about the ones you cannot. If you chamfer the sides of the hole in the caprail you will get a better seal with the caulk.

[Quetzalsailor]

Unless they're flexible enough that you can get them in place w/o much effort, I think I'd make a rig to bend these T-sections off the boat. They're not going to want to bend edge-wise; they'd prefer bending up and down. Injudicious force, and lack of support, would tend to kink them. They may bend adequately in the middle but the ends will want to stay straight.

Make or find a plywood working surface that you do not mind abusing and that will stay put (preferably at working height, like a porch). Make a shortish wood bracket which will trap the T-section flat (2" x 4" with a dadoe on the bottom?), but that will allow the strip to be slid through. Make a bending lever, say an 8' 2" x 4" with a transverse dadoe. Draw the curves on the plywood for convenient checking and rechecking progress. Slip the T-section through the bracket, use the lever to bend the section a smidge at a time and move the section often to bend as smoothly as possible.

It is indeed possible to bend long pieces gently to odd shapes, or straighten bent ones for that matter, but it will take some time to get a feel for how much is enough. Gentle force on excessive levers is easier to control.

I guess I'd favor the aft end, but you might remember where you leave the blocks most often and be sure you had enough extra fore-or-aft.