Tom, The reason the cutout should NOT be 8-10 inches above the bottom end (butt) of the mast is - one would be hard pressed to remove the sail from the rig without removing the boom from the mast. This would not facilitate a quick removal of the sail. If you found yourself in need of removing the sail for an emergency - you do not want to additionally remove the boom as one would 'probably' have their hands full at this stage. You may want to look into making a set of mast track gates for the slot. Not a hard job, and many creative solutions have been detailed on the list. A piece of sheet aluminum shaped with a hammer over a large diameter piece of pipe will give you a good contour for a mast gate - it is a pain to secure them but your slugs will stay engaged. Was your 'double reef' cringle put into the sail by the OEM sailmaker or was it added later? You may want to consider lowering the placement of the boom if it is on a slide type gooseneck, lower sailplan wouldn't hurt if you are reefing also helping to keep your 2nd reef tack in the track. GO 'just when I thought I could keep my nose outta........' "where is your 4 foot piece of 3/16 line --I don't see it around your waist!!!" - my US Sailing Instructor Instructors daily comment to one of us in class years ago. Makes a kinda 'Jethro belt', mule tape works for boats our sizes too. Take Care, Have Fun, Go Sailing! In a message dated 5/21/2009 4:45:31 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, tjenk@gte.net writes: Hello all, I assume the cutout on the M17 mast slot is designed to accommodate a boltrope main (by both size and location), but I find that it is not perfect for slugs. Among other things, one of my slugs falls right in the cutout on a double reef. Is there a reason why the cutout could not be, say, 8-12" from the mast bottom, assuming most newer boats come with slug-type sails? Thanks, Tom Jenkins _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet! **************Huge savings on HDTVs from Dell.com! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221836042x1201399880/aol?redir=http... t%2Fclk%3B215073686%3B37034322%3Bb)