My boat has four jib cars on two 25mm (1 inch) T-tracks (port and starboard). One of the jib cars died. The piston broke and I had to saw if off with a grinding disc, so it is not salvageable. The reason I took it off was the jib sheet was chafing on the port combing and had cut a groove into the gel coat.
I thought I could simply replace the car with a new car, so ordered two new cars. The extra car was for aesthetics, so I would have the same arrangement both sides. The new cars are Ronstan RC72505
www.ronstan.com.au/marine5/product.asp?ProdNo=RC72505. The old car fitted onto the new jib track in the shop, so I thought the new car would fit onto the old track.
However, The new Ronstan cars do not fit the old track. The cross-T in the T-track is too thick. Also the new style tracks have square edges and the old style tracks have rounded edges.
This leaves me with the following options, in order to expense;
1 Do nothing and sail with one car on port and two on starboard. The problem is that the port jib sheet will chafe on the port combing, or cut a groove into the gel coat.
2 Find a replacement old style jib car - see photo below
3 Fit new jib tracks and use the two new cars and two old cars. The two old cars can sit at the back near the winches, and probably will not get moved much. I'm not sure if the old cars will damage the new tracks.
4 Fit new jib tracks and buy another two cars to fit.
So, has anyone got any suggestions about where to find an older style stainless steel jib car?
