The strength of the binnacle would be fairly easy to achieve. I would think the issue would be in how it was mounted. There would be quite a bit of lever arm effect at the base. The floor is unlikely to be designed to withstand that without some reinforcement - more than just backer plates.
Winches
- Thread starter fred1diver
- Start date
If you don't intend to race, and you don't mind devaluating your boat, then I believe you can remove the spinnaker winches. You may need to add a couple of cleats for sheets not being used.
Not on point, but if you are flying a spinnaker for fun & not racing, if you sheet it forward of the cockpit, near where your Genoa sheet fairleads to it's winch, flying a chute is a lot more fun and much easier to control. Having the sheet all the way aft tends to make the boat want to round up much more than having it sheeted more forward.
Not on point, but if you are flying a spinnaker for fun & not racing, if you sheet it forward of the cockpit, near where your Genoa sheet fairleads to it's winch, flying a chute is a lot more fun and much easier to control. Having the sheet all the way aft tends to make the boat want to round up much more than having it sheeted more forward.
Sounds good, thank you
I am not sure it would depreciate the boat to remove them, they are from before there was a standard winch handle size
so I need to carry an old handle (non locking of course) just for when I decide to fly the spinnaker.
Declutterring the boat would be so nice
But I do understand your point.
thank yo for your insight. We will look deeper into this
I am not sure it would depreciate the boat to remove them, they are from before there was a standard winch handle size
so I need to carry an old handle (non locking of course) just for when I decide to fly the spinnaker.Declutterring the boat would be so nice
But I do understand your point.
thank yo for your insight. We will look deeper into this
Boats have ropes. I understand the clutter problem an how the wheel conversion made it worse. But don't apologize for the ropes unless you have a power boat in your future. My boat is small, but it probably has twice as many ropes. In and down hauls on the jib sheets. Same on the reacher/chute. Up and down hauls for the bowsprit. Two furlers. Shroud tensioners. More halyards. But it is manageable with careful routing and line management. Line hangers can help. They don't all stay in the cockpit. For example, sometimes the best place for tails is down the companionway.
"Locking" winch handles were A DESIGN OF THE DEVIL and were made up for sailors who were just too dumb to be careful.
I've been sailing since 1983 on my own boats and wish I could find non-locking handles. Those "need a thumb to remove" things were a PITA. I singlehanded most of the time, and would have to work carefully to remove the handles at certain times before tacks...yeah I know, it didn't take much brain power, but still those twist-to-remove things were unnecessary and useless. I never lost a winch handle in 40+ years and it wasn't because they were "locking." It's like "child safety" covers for things - you can't bloody get them off! OK, rant over, I got kids to chase off my lawn!
An angle grinder, file, hacksaw, more - can make any locking handle a non-locking handle in no time...."Locking" winch handles were A DESIGN OF THE DEVIL and were made up for sailors who were just too dumb to be careful.
I've been sailing since 1983 on my own boats and wish I could find non-locking handles. Those "need a thumb to remove" things were a PITA. I singlehanded most of the time, and would have to work carefully to remove the handles at certain times before tacks...yeah I know, it didn't take much brain power, but still those twist-to-remove things were unnecessary and useless. I never lost a winch handle in 40+ years and it wasn't because they were "locking." It's like "child safety" covers for things - you can't bloody get them off! OK, rant over, I got kids to chase off my lawn!
dj
Should be an easy thing to rid yourself of those "winch handles were A DESIGN OF THE DEVIL" by drilling out the bottom attachment point. If memory serves, it looked like a rivet type attachment point."Locking" winch handles were A DESIGN OF THE DEVIL and were made up for sailors who were just too dumb to be careful.
I've been sailing since 1983 on my own boats and wish I could find non-locking handles. Those "need a thumb to remove" things were a PITA. I singlehanded most of the time, and would have to work carefully to remove the handles at certain times before tacks...yeah I know, it didn't take much brain power, but still those twist-to-remove things were unnecessary and useless. I never lost a winch handle in 40+ years and it wasn't because they were "locking." It's like "child safety" covers for things - you can't bloody get them off! OK, rant over, I got kids to chase off my lawn!
What type of hardware size would you recommend for the deck attachments? I was thinking fiddle blocks with cam cleats?
What do you all think?
I already have a double block for the main sheet to boom fiddle.
Yeah, I think that's the simplest way to rig a bridle - essentially like two extra mainsheets - one leading to each side of the cockpit.
I'm not sure this solves your problem, though. I mean, it does approximately what a traveler does, but only when combined with a centered mainsheet. This guy shows how it is used on a little Laser:
But, a dual-mainsheet rig might suit you just fine - which is essentially the bridle, minus the mainsheet. Take a look at: Do Twin Sheets Control the Mainsail Better? - Practical Sailor
In the end, you just need to move the end of boom left, right, up, and down, and there is no shortage of ways to do that.
My very first boat had this mainsheet rig, plus a vang which I installed: