Halyard clamp jammed

[YVRguy]

Halyard clutch jammed

My Hunter 34 has an different style of clutch clamps in the cockpit than I'm used to but I'm sure many of you are familiar with them. To release the line you need to pull up on the clamp and the pressure point clicks and releases. There is a little clip built into the clamp that you pull on to lock it.

Anyway, yesterday I went to release the halyard and nothing happened. No matter how hard I pulled back on the clamp, the locking wheel would not disengage. Fortunately it wasn't a critical time. I ended up using a screwdriver to manually pop the locking wheel up and keep it up while I fed the halyard through the clamp. On closer inspection, the wheel had marks on it where the previous owner had apparently done the same thing.

Any thoughts on whether I'm doing something wrong? Or should I just replace the clamps? There's no way I'm going sailing again until I'm confident that I can quickly lower the main when I need to.

I've attached a picture of the offending clamp (the red one on the right)

 

[Cmp1110]

I have the same ones you have to raise all the way and then lower fully to open
To lock just flick little handle towards you

 

[kloudie1]

Your halyard may be small enough that the cam is going too far to release? or.. the clutch needs to be disassembled and cleaned out.. as CMP says, pull the red lever up as far as you can; it should lock into the cam. Then when you push it back down the cam is supposed to rotate with the lever and release the line. The cam should stay released until you click the little black lever. So the cam locks to the red lever and the black lever frees the cam from the red lever.

 

[jdhohmann]

We had the same issue as well, what I noticed was that the lilttle lever underneath the handle as you pull it up is suppose to click into place on the cam, you can just press it into the proper location when the handle is up. You can probally just clean and lube the unit, and that would fix your issue, or like I plan on doing in the near future, is replace with newer models!!!

 

[YVRguy]

Thanks for the comments. I went to the marine store and for $150 or so I can get a new pair of clutches that are of the design used in newer boats. Might try lubricating the old one first just in case but a replacement seems like the answer seeing as I don't really like the operation of these ones anyway. Thanks all.

 

[Steve Dion]

Those clutches are the orignal ones on that boat. Before you do anything check out the ones from Garhauer Marine. They cost about $50/line. They come with a 10 year warranty and the work well.

It may be a good time to add a position in case you need it in the future too.

One of the existing mounting holes should work and then you will need to drill/tap only one new hole for the second bolt.

http://garhauermarine.com/catalog_process.cfm?cid=36

I did exactly the same thing on my H'31.

 

[Claude L.-Auger]

Hi Doug,
As Steve said those are the original ones on the boat. They are Easylock Racing model. The operation was well described in the posts above. They are easy to clean if you want to do a thorough job just pull the C-clip on one side and push out the pin. That will release the handle. Be careful with the spring, clean and lube and it should work properly if you don't want to put money down on new ones. I also noticed the bushing under the line is showing some wear, which by letting the line go down further will make the clutch go deeper and make it a little tougher to operate. I have replaced all those bushings and everything works good now. Good luck.

 

[onecoolair]

Hi Doug,
As Steve said those are the original ones on the boat. They are Easylock Racing model. The operation was well described in the posts above. They are easy to clean if you want to do a thorough job just pull the C-clip on one side and push out the pin. That will release the handle. Be careful with the spring, clean and lube and it should work properly if you don't want to put money down on new ones. I also noticed the bushing under the line is showing some wear, which by letting the line go down further will make the clutch go deeper and make it a little tougher to operate. I have replaced all those bushings and everything works good now. Good luck.

I would like to add that...besides cleaning.... you also need to adjust your line or halyard so that the cam is not always hitting at the same spot on the line. When the cams get worn or line gets a little worn in the same spot it will cause the cam cleat portion of the clutch to go down farther then its supposed too causing the clutch to lock up and not want to release properly. That and the spring maybe worn out.

 

[Dan Johnson]

Re: Halyard clamp jammed...

Glad I don't have that kind! :dance: