Stupid Question time

[dscribner]

1) Should the cam cleat on my main sheet be up by the boom or down by the floor of the cockpit?

2) I'm a trailer sailor with a Lancer 25. I have no jib cars so I have my blocks on snap shackles along the toe rail. I moved the life lines at the bow pulpit down to the toe rail so the jib won't bend over them since it is being sheeted outside the lines. Does this sound right?

 

[Ed Schenck]

Cam cleat must stay in the cockpit. It might work on the boom if tight sheeted but at an odd angle with the sheet high up and in everyone's way. But on a run with the boom out over the toerail or farther it would not work at all.

Angling the lifeline down to the base of the pulpit is common with deck sweeper jibs.

My own H37C has the traveler and mainsheet in the cockpit. Sometimes I have to use a free winch for trimming in a stiff breeze. That would never work with the mainsheet coming off the boom.

 

[RichH]

1) Should the cam cleat on my main sheet be up by the boom or down by the floor of the cockpit?

2) I'm a trailer sailor with a Lancer 25. I have no jib cars so I have my blocks on snap shackles along the toe rail. I moved the life lines at the bow pulpit down to the toe rail so the jib won't bend over them since it is being sheeted outside the lines. Does this sound right?

1. The mainsheet cam cleat should be near or on the cockpit floor .... much easier to pull UP than pull DOWN; plus, its FASTER to release when the cam cleat is near your foot or the boats centerline.
An alternative way to do this is to use a Harken hexaratchet mounted on a swivel and mounted on the cockpit floor .... and a cam cleat on **each side** of the 'gunnel' near next to where you normally sit .... each cam cleat ALWAYS within grasp for 'instant release'.

2. Good practice to move/arrange the lifelines so that they connect to the bottom of the pulpit ... less chafe and the jib will take the 'best' shape'. This allows the 'tack' of the jib to be *as close as possible to the deck. With the lifelines attached to the 'highest part' of the pulpit the jib will 'foul' on the lifelines OR the jib tack will have to be raised so the jib can 'clear' the lifeline ... moving the tack away from the deck will make the jib much less efficient.

 

[Joe]

The alternative to lowering the lifeline at the pulpit is to raise the tack of the jib with a pendant.... this is possible, of course, only if the sail is not fully hoisted. If you have a foot or so at the top, between the halyard shackle and the masthead, consider hoisting the sail completely and build a wire pendant to connect the tack to the stem head... getting the sail higher off the deck.

Tacking the headsail fairly high off the deck on cruising boats is especially desirable because it allows the sail to clear the lifelines, provides greater visibility and keeps water from being trapped and flushed down the deck towards the cockpit.

West Marine is very gracious in providing a small work station in their hardware department with the appropriate tools and parts that will allow you to build the pendant you need on premise.

 

[dscribner]

Thanks guys. I thought I was on the right track, moving the cam to the floor. It's still a little awkward but I experienced the too-far-over-the-toer-rail scenario and it makes good sense. My jib, however, is up as hig as I can take it. It's about a foot off the deck but the lifelines are roughly two feet. Our first time out, we had it way too close to the deck so we couldn't see around it. There was "bong!" and a scraping sound and we looked up in time to see a bright orange bouy the size of a VW bug clear the sail. Stupidity should hurt more . . . but we're learning!

 

[Joe]

Thanks guys. I thought I was on the right track, moving the cam to the floor. It's still a little awkward but I experienced the too-far-over-the-toer-rail scenario and it makes good sense. My jib, however, is up as hig as I can take it. It's about a foot off the deck but the lifelines are roughly two feet. Our first time out, we had it way too close to the deck so we couldn't see around it. There was "bong!" and a scraping sound and we looked up in time to see a bright orange bouy the size of a VW bug clear the sail. Stupidity should hurt more . . . but we're learning!

On my boat the upper lifeline is connected to a lower position on the bow pulpit. The boat came that way.... so there is no reason not to purchase the fittings to bring it down so the headsail will clear....

If you are concerned about visibility, etc., it may be advantageous to have a sailmaker recut the sail to accommodate these issues. One of the reasons I like sailing with my high clewed 110 when singlehanding, rather than the 150 decksweeping genoa, is that I can see under it. The big sail's visibilty limitations require constant vigilance, even with a sewn-in window.