Did That on Our H340
Hi, Russell. We did just that with our new H340. The H340 comes standard with only two winches for all lines (all halyards, sheets, reef lines, vang, anything else you might want to put on a winch), and we felt that was just not enough. So, we bought the boat with the spinnaker winch option with the full intent of routinely using them for the jib sheets. We decided to take the simple approach first and modify later if we had problems. We simply brought the jib sheets directly from the jib cars on the cabin top right back to the spinnaker winches, and we have sailed that way all season. We have had two small issues. First, because of the clockwise entry into the winch, the Port side jib sheet just barely rubs on the cabin top. We just put on a couple of strips of chafing tape at the rub point as a short term maesure. Second, there is about 5 feet of free jib sheet from the car to the winch. During fast sheet pull-ins that is too much free line flopping around, and we have had maybe 3 or 4 instances of over-ride during the season. Once the line has tension to stop flopping around it works just fine, and we have never had over-rides while trimming a tensioned jib sheet. For next year we are considering mounting turning blocks on the arch; jib sheets would come from the jib cars back to the arch, through the turning block, and then up to the winch. This pulls the Port side sheets away from the cabin top. Also the turning blocks would be less than one foot from the winches, which should provide a good sheet control point close to the winch and prevent the loose-sheet over-rides. Overall, this has been very successful for us all season. But that success is due to the fact that, perhaps just by chance, the jib sheet run directly from the jib car to the winches, was, except for the two points noted above, just right. The line run may not be so perfect on your 376. Carl and Jue s/v 'Syzygy'
