Two rope clutches necessary for main furling line?

[Berndahle]

I have in-mast furling on my Hunter 36 and am wondering if it's really necessary to run the furling loop line through two rope clutches as is the stock setup. Since the tension is really only on one side of the line, it seems a waste of a clutch to brake the other side of the loop. I'd much rather lead that side through a simple eye and use the freed-up clutch for my vang line. Am I thinking about this the right way?

Thanks,
Bernd

 

[sailingdog]

Yes, because this is probably using a single continuous line for the in-mast furling control. You need to have one clutch to hold the sail in the out position, and one to hold it in the in position.

I have in-mast furling on my Hunter 36 and am wondering if it's really necessary to run the furling loop line through two rope clutches as is the stock setup. Since the tension is really only on one side of the line, it seems a waste of a clutch to brake the other side of the loop. I'd much rather lead that side through a simple eye and use the freed-up clutch for my vang line. Am I thinking about this the right way?

Thanks,
Bernd

 

[Berndahle]

Isn't the outhaul what holds the sail in the out position?

 

[Steve Kamp]

With continuous loop furling both sides of the loop are clutched so as to place tension on (or brake) the furling drum so that you can stop the furler at any intermediate point between furled and fully hauled.
Steve

 

[chuckwayne]

you can take the furling line out of the "out" clutch-the outhaul works fine for controlling the out line. We made this change 2 years ago on our 356 and it's been no problem-we use the freed clutch for the control line for the dutchman boom brake (from this site, of course!)

 

[Berndahle]

Perfect! That always seemed to me like a waste of a perfectly good clutch.

 

[wflowe2]

How do you get the line out of a clutch if it is a continuous loop?

 

[Berndahle]

You'll have to take the clutch apart. There's an instructional video on the Spinlock website and on YouTube. Doesn't look too hard to do.

 

[Ron20324]

You'll have to take the clutch apart.

There would still be the entry/exit hole pieces?

 

[chuckwayne]

Well, it was easy-the splice was failing so I needed to redo the line anyway. I just cut it and respliced when I got the boombrake. BTW, the dutchman boombrake works really well on the 36, mounted the brake on the boom fitting for the rigid vang, ran the brake line from the stbd inner chainplate, through the brake, to a block on the port inner chainplate and back to the clutch

 

[Patrik]

I'm interested in your boombrake. I have a 356 and don´t like to gybe. No control when it happends. I'm usen to take a good grip of the sheet and turn the boom over, but it doesn't work on the 356. Please let me know your experiences and how you have installed it.
Rgds Patrik

 

[sailingdog]

Patrik—

I've got the same make boombrake that Chuck has, and would highly recommend it. You can read about it on my blog.

 

[chuckwayne]

Ditto! the dutchman boombrake works really well on the 356. The control line goes thru the stopper and then on one of my cabintop winches. Just by tensioninn the line, I can lock the boom out-think preventer-or control the boom for a controlled jibe, even in heavy winds. playiing the control line is a lot easier than trying to get in large amounts of loaded mainsheet during a jibe. A really worthwhile upgrade.

 

[Patrik]

Thenk you chuckwayne and sailingdog for your quick and positive answers. I will look through your blog and hopefully find arguments for a installing a boombrake

Patrik