Thanks for the thoughts Albanach.Silvio. I copied and installed rpwillia’s design about 12 months ago, using a Harken cleat on Marine Ply. This has held so far in up to 28kts. Haven’t had to throw off the mainsheet in anything over 20kts due to pre-adjustment of Traveller. But relatively easy up to then.
It helps greatly with un/furling the main when the sheet has to be loosened, but kept captive.
Had I seen at the time the combo cleat truckman installed, I probably would have chosen that.
WitzendPaulj, no offense or anything, but would that be a little cumbersome, so that each time you want to release the sheet you have to move forward and release the handle. I just pop the line up while at the helm and let it out.
I Disagree,It really seems to me that you guys are complicating a simple situation.
Your boats are NOT dinghies that need constant adjustment of the mainsheet.
The most important thing that the clam cleat failed to recognize, is that the mainsheet should simply need to be on the winch WITH THE PROPER FAIRLEAD.
The clam cleats negated this necessity.
Using a sheetstopper or any other kind of clutch fulfills this design criteria.
The simple way to POP the mainsheet is to keep the clutch (sheetstopper or ANY other device) OPEN, so that the winch holds the mainsheet. As noted by others earlier in this thread, using the traveler to drop the boom is the MOST effective way to dump air fast. Why? Because dumping the mainsheet is a royal PITA 'cuz grinding it all back in as a LOT harder than simply pulling the traveler back up.
Clam cleats for a mainsheet on a boat as large as yours and ours makes no sense. They provide no good fair lead for the main sheet to the winch. The winch should be the means of securing the mainsheet, not the sheetstopper.
Having spent yesterday sailing in winds shifting in directions, and strengths from 18 to 28kts in 5 to 10 minute intervals (one of the craziest days experienced for a while on the local bay) and having one crew for a change, I agree with Witzend. Because of the variable windspeeds in reasonably protected waters we left the full 135 and main up. Just played the traveller and mainsheet, and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to throw off the mainsheet from the Harken cleat when necessary, to maintain control (even from helm distance) at any strength of wind. Our maxs peed was 7.09 kts that day, towing a dinghy with motor attached.I Disagree,
First of all, the original design is not lined up to the winch properly anyway and the locking mechanism is a joke. My improvement with the use of the swivel, solves both of those problems.
Second, being able to adjust the sheet from the helm is a big advantage, remember we are not always sailing on a tight beat hard down, the traveler doesn't provide enough scope for proper adjustments on a reach.
Witzend, My set up works flawlessly. 99.999% of the time the mainsheet is captured in the cam and I trim when necessary and really handy when tacking and jibing to pull in the slack from the comfort of the helm. My wife on occasion has put it on the winch and it leads to the winch while still in the cam. If you need to pop it out of the cam or put it back in the cam all that is required is a gentle push or pull as the sheet slides easily into the cam from the winch. Thats what makes it so great. There is minimal effort required even under heavy loads to capture the sheet or release it due to the construction of the cam. To release the sheet even under heavy loading all that is required is to pop the sheet up no pulling on the line is required. Again thats what makes it so great. In regards to your question about having to use the winch for something else I suppose that could happen. I could use the primary.Truckman, on your design, if you needed to use the winch for another reason and your main sheet was under considerable load (judging from the angles presented in your photo, the sheet would not be in the clam jaws) in order to free up the winch you would need to somehow get the sheet back into the clam jaws. Normally you need to pull the sheet to accomplish this. So let's see... crank the winch a little more while putting your foot on the short portion of the sheet that is running from the cleat to the winch and force it down into the jaws and then release the sheet from the winch.
Has this been a problem or do I have the angles wrong?
Stu,Clam cleats for a mainsheet on a boat as large as yours and ours makes no sense. They provide no good fair lead for the main sheet to the winch. The winch should be the means of securing the mainsheet, not the sheetstopper.
5 and 4 wow!The way my boat came from the factory has FIVE rope clutches on the port and FOUR clutches to starboard plus the clam sheet stopper.
Came from Catalina that way. The previous owner may have ordered it like that. Everything comes through a deck organizer under the traveler.You run your traveler through clutches? Why?