There is an item you can buy at West Marine that makes sure the bolt rope is
fed properly in the track. It's not cheap... $50 I believe. I had one on my
Cal 20 and used it with the same situation. I just put a knot in the halyard
at the longest point when lowering the sail, so the bolt rope wouldn't exit
the track... seemed to work fine in combination with the feed...

Definitely remove the rudder if it isn't painted. It'll grow stuff faster
than you think. Definitely raise the outboard after every use. Be sure to
run fresh water through it (you can get "ear muffs" designed for this,
depending on the engine, or you can do it manually as best as you can).

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"sandy" wrote in message
ups.com...
We recently became the proud owner of a Neptune 16. We are keeping it
in the water on a lake in NE Washington. I've made a sailcover for the
main but find that the mainsail (which has a rope luff that goes in the
mast slot), comes out of the slot when I lower the sail. Is there some
sort of sail "stop" made for this type of rigging so I won't have to
thread the sail into the slot every time? Or is there some sort of
improvised thingie that would do the job?

Also...As we are keeping the boat in the water for the season, any
suggestions on what I should be doing to keep boat in good shape.
(Like....should I remove the rudder or leave it in the water? Raise
the outboard out of the water every day? We will probably be using
boat 2 or 3 times a week.

Appreciate any suggestions. As Hubby is disabled, I'm doing it all
myself and would like to not make any stupid mistakes. Thanks!

Sandy