Put up a new 3/8 inch poly New England rope main halyard on my 34' '87 Catalina. (As per Catalina dimensions and my old halyard). Raised the sail, (rope clutch in the holding position) and took the halyard off the winch. It slipped back through the clutch. I can pull it backwards with my hand. Catalina says the clutch is a Garhauer. I can find no name on it. General consensus after talking to Catalina, Garhauer, New England rope and West Marine is that the clutch is worn and the new halyard is slightly slippery. A suggestion was made to soak the line in water with some mild detergent to possibly reduce the slickness. Otherwise clutch replacement. There is no clutch for the main sheet. I was thinking of putting in a double clutch. Any reason not to add a clutch for the main sheet?? Is there significantly more friction if it goes through a clutch making it harder to winch in the main sheet?? It seems to me that being able to flick a lever when speedily trying to let out the main is more advantageous than unwinding the self tailing winch. Any thoughts on all or any part of the above?
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Garhaur Clutches
You must be Steve. I sent you a response on the C34 site about Sta-Set-X. Sorry it didn't give any details, but my detailed message was deleted by the system since I had skipped the required name field and I was too PO'd to rewrite the message. Anyway, you need Brian Toss's book " The Complete Rigger's Apprentice". Sounds like the trick to driving home the final inch or so is to trim, taper and tape the core and really drive it home. Brian uses the mass of small sledgehammer to get enough jirk on the shackle. I have a Garhaur clutch on my main halard. It works fine but my sheets are old. After raising the main, I close the clutch and remove the main halyard from the starboard cabin top winch. I transfer the main sheet to the winch and leave the sheet winch open and the line in the self tailer. This is on a '90 C34. Keep the posts comming. I want to replace my old main halyard with Sta-Set-X but want to know all the problems before I start. Bill (George W.) Sedgwick SchatzSea 1031
You must be Steve. I sent you a response on the C34 site about Sta-Set-X. Sorry it didn't give any details, but my detailed message was deleted by the system since I had skipped the required name field and I was too PO'd to rewrite the message. Anyway, you need Brian Toss's book " The Complete Rigger's Apprentice". Sounds like the trick to driving home the final inch or so is to trim, taper and tape the core and really drive it home. Brian uses the mass of small sledgehammer to get enough jirk on the shackle. I have a Garhaur clutch on my main halard. It works fine but my sheets are old. After raising the main, I close the clutch and remove the main halyard from the starboard cabin top winch. I transfer the main sheet to the winch and leave the sheet winch open and the line in the self tailer. This is on a '90 C34. Keep the posts comming. I want to replace my old main halyard with Sta-Set-X but want to know all the problems before I start. Bill (George W.) Sedgwick SchatzSea 1031
to Bill (George W.)
Bill, as it says in the title, my name is BOB not Steve. The first 1/2 of your response makes no sense to me. In the last part I can't make out if you are talking halyards or sheets. Do you have 2 rope clutches? BOB
Bill, as it says in the title, my name is BOB not Steve. The first 1/2 of your response makes no sense to me. In the last part I can't make out if you are talking halyards or sheets. Do you have 2 rope clutches? BOB
Clutches
I thought this was a continuation of Steve's comment on the C34 site. He was having problems splicing a shackle onto Sta-Set-X. I did not see that your name was Bob. Yes, I have clutches for both the main halyard and the sheet. They are useful for transfering lines from/to the starboard side winch, however while sailing, I leave the sheet clutch open and the halyard clutch closed. I have no slippage problems or notice excessive drag on the main Sheet.
I thought this was a continuation of Steve's comment on the C34 site. He was having problems splicing a shackle onto Sta-Set-X. I did not see that your name was Bob. Yes, I have clutches for both the main halyard and the sheet. They are useful for transfering lines from/to the starboard side winch, however while sailing, I leave the sheet clutch open and the halyard clutch closed. I have no slippage problems or notice excessive drag on the main Sheet.
sta-set x comment
I don't care for sta-set x. The wrapped parallel core is very difficult to splice. It doesn't have a good feel to it and is somewhat stiff. I built a halyard with the stuff and was not happy with it. If you are looking for handling ease and good cleating you might consider going up to a 7/16 Samson XLS ($0.76/ft on Apsltd.com) or Yale Yachtbraid($1/09/ft at BoatUS). For 3/8 inch try Yale Vizzion, it's got a fuzzy cover that is very comfortable and holds well on the winch. $1,45 through Boat US If you are more performance oriented and want a smaller diameter go for the Samson Warpspeed. The 3/8 inch twice the strength of the everything I've mentioned and is $1.70/foot on the Apsltd.com website. Warpspeed is very cool.
I don't care for sta-set x. The wrapped parallel core is very difficult to splice. It doesn't have a good feel to it and is somewhat stiff. I built a halyard with the stuff and was not happy with it. If you are looking for handling ease and good cleating you might consider going up to a 7/16 Samson XLS ($0.76/ft on Apsltd.com) or Yale Yachtbraid($1/09/ft at BoatUS). For 3/8 inch try Yale Vizzion, it's got a fuzzy cover that is very comfortable and holds well on the winch. $1,45 through Boat US If you are more performance oriented and want a smaller diameter go for the Samson Warpspeed. The 3/8 inch twice the strength of the everything I've mentioned and is $1.70/foot on the Apsltd.com website. Warpspeed is very cool.
Clutch use on sheet
Bob, The only comment I would make that is is generally considered dangerous to put a clutch on your mainsheet. The reason is that this control is the easiest to "dump" if a puff comes and overpowers the boat. If it is in a clutch there is always a possibility that it could jam and put you in a bad situation fast. I have kept my Jam cleat and can offload that with just an upward jerk at any time.
Bob, The only comment I would make that is is generally considered dangerous to put a clutch on your mainsheet. The reason is that this control is the easiest to "dump" if a puff comes and overpowers the boat. If it is in a clutch there is always a possibility that it could jam and put you in a bad situation fast. I have kept my Jam cleat and can offload that with just an upward jerk at any time.
Clutch Use on Mainsheet
The C34s start off with a poor fairlead to the base of the cabintop winch. You end up needing to use two hands (one to hold the line down, one to crank the winch) so the line doesn't override the winch. Adding a rope clutch to the mainsheet, and keeping it open when sailing is no problem and provides a perfect fairlead, from below, to the winch, if you install the new clutch where you remove the useless jam cleat. Beneteau uses them, and I got the idea from a bareboat a few years ago. It's no different than a sheetsopper (clutch) on your halyard: when you want the sail to come down, you pop the clutch. For the mainsheet, the stopper is always open when sailing, with the sheet around the winch, easy to drop the main if necessary, but easier still to drop the traveller than the mainsheet.
The C34s start off with a poor fairlead to the base of the cabintop winch. You end up needing to use two hands (one to hold the line down, one to crank the winch) so the line doesn't override the winch. Adding a rope clutch to the mainsheet, and keeping it open when sailing is no problem and provides a perfect fairlead, from below, to the winch, if you install the new clutch where you remove the useless jam cleat. Beneteau uses them, and I got the idea from a bareboat a few years ago. It's no different than a sheetsopper (clutch) on your halyard: when you want the sail to come down, you pop the clutch. For the mainsheet, the stopper is always open when sailing, with the sheet around the winch, easy to drop the main if necessary, but easier still to drop the traveller than the mainsheet.
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