Cat trax wont roll

Hi there, I have cat trax that are a year old. they dont work so well. I have a Mystere 5.5 that seems to hard to roll up the beach. I have friends whos boats (Mystere 5.5 and 6.0) seem much easier to roll.

I have flushed out the insides of the hub with tap water, that didnt help.

I was thinking about lubricating the delron bearings (or whatever they are made of) with Mclube Sailcoat... but fear that will actually attract grit and sand.

Does anyone know a good fix for this?

thanks. Andrew

Inspect the roller bearings and make sure you have enough in there and that they are all circular and without flatspots. There shouldn't be room to fit one more bearing but they should be relatively loose fitting. McLube won't necesarily hurt them but they should work with out it (in this case, lubricating the bearings - like traveler cars - can cause the bearings to slide rather than roll leaving flat spots on the bearings which leads to more sliding and less rolling. Sloppy bearings, like in traveler cars and cattrax, need a little friction to make them roll properly.

It may just be that you have grit up in them - I would disassemble the whole thing, clean it with water, and reassemble...it's a simple system and if something is wrong, it should be pretty obvious.

McLube shouldn't attract dirt, that's the main thing I like about it.

Jake is right, these things are insanely simple.

I never knew that sloppy bearings work better without lube. I know that in light air, my traveler sticks more without lube than it does when I remember to McLube it in the morning...

Mike

thanks guys

I'm not saying it won't work better with lubrication - it probably will. However, it could shorten the life of the bearings.

When travelers don't work well it's because either the bearings have acquired some tiny flat spots or there is debris in the ball tracks. Lubricating it will make it work better but only exacerbates the problem because it makes it easier for the bearings to slide rather than roll...which leads to more flat spots. Once the ball bearings have started to obtain flat spots, its a viscious circle.

So basically, and not that you would, don't lubricate a traveler car that works. Gee...that advice really wasn't worth much was it? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That's OK, just gives me yet another excuse to flip the boat every 4 years... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Mike

Let me sum up jakes post:

Slippery Flat balls = bad
Smooth rolling balls = good

I am starting to be sorry i opened this can of worms <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My girl say's, everything works better with lubrication!!! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

It doesn't just make sense, it makes the world go 'round.

I am getting way to much of a laugh out of this.... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />