600 racks

I've been trying to find some narrow racks for a while now but nothing seems to have appeared so I'm going to start off with the wides.  As far as changing it goes it's pretty easy to do, you'll just have to adjust the lengths of your control lines assuming that they're continuous. 

When I took my racks off I found they were stuck but, after a bit of gentle persuasion they came off with the plugs.  To refit them I've rotated the plugs about 45 degrees (to avoid the old screw holes that I've filled) and drilled some new holes and screwed them back on with the appropriate amounts of silicon sealant.

Andy

Its not that simple as it changes the geometry.

I changed mine from wide to narrow and its a bitch to do.

A mallet and block of wood to bash them off, then you will need new end bungs to re attatch to the hull ready for the new wings.

Dan

You may find the plugs stick in the ends of the tubes and their screws pull out of the hull. You then need to hold the screws in a vice while pulling/levering/hammering the wing away. It's awkward.

In salt water, the alloy tube corrodes and binds to the plug.

New plugs are about 8 quid each iirc. I managed to re-use 3 out of 4.

When re-assembling, use silicone grease or some other favourite gunge between the plug and the tube. Also isolate the alloy tube from the stainless u-bolts at the gunwhale. Tape, plastic, whatever.

I would think trying to bend wide racks to make them narrow, i.e. pulling the front tube forward will stress the welded joints and failure will follow in due course. I think this is doomed, the angle is probably the same, but the fore and aft tube is shorter on a wide wing????

Wings have been swapped on the 600 Yahoo group, but narrow ones are probably more in demand. However at 200quid a side, it's worth asking. At these prices, I can see a lot of people being out of class.