Joe Nelson CS#35 Posted March 20, 2006 Posted March 20, 2006 I asked before as to the location of the fore cleats for the stays'l and have them located and installed, but neglected to ask about the aft cleats. I see that they tend to be located under and attached the the inwale. Is there a proper location fore of the aft bulkhead? Since I doubt the sheet will be tied to the cleat...simply looped around, a cleat seems as quick as anything more fancy or complicated. Thanks Graham for the answer to my query on the uphaul for rudder on another thread! I am really close to having the boat complete. I have a show to exibit at on the 22nd and 23rd of April and will be christened there. With most of the rigging done, she really looks like a sailboat!!!! My father in-law brought me a 5 gallon bucket of stainless fasteners. He got them from a boat manufacurer that sweeps them up off the floor. It is not worth their time to sort them. I figure its is about $1,000 worth of fasteners, rivets and marine electrical connectors. What a score! Wish he was a little earlier, I've been buying lots of fasteners for the rigging. Quote
Designer Posted March 20, 2006 Posted March 20, 2006 Joe, I presume that you are talking about the staysail halyard cleat. I mentioned this on an earlier string. I have my cleat under the coaming about 12" aft of the center seat. I found that to keep the mast in column I needed it to be about 18" further aft. I also found that for strong winds you cannot get the halyard tight enough by hand. I tensioned my halyard with a second line with a snapshackle which was tied to my stern eye. I could grab the halyard about 18" above the cleat and heave it aft and clip the snapshackle on the halyard. This tightened the halyard and brought the halyard aft to the right angle. There is a stopper knot in the halyard that bears against the masthead block when the sail is hoisted. When setting up the sail for the first time I have some 1/8" line at the tack with several turns which I can adjust for luff tension. I rarely mess with this line once I have it adjusted. The staysail sheet is not cleated. Quote
wkisting Posted March 20, 2006 Posted March 20, 2006 This may not work, but I wonder, Graham, if you are familiar with "Quickie Tie-Downs"? (at least that's what they were called when they were first invented... may be sold under a variety of brand names now) Essentially, it's a small "rope ratchet" with a one-way feed and a release button. Seems to me, you could rig a very nice, adjustable halyard with a quickie-tie-down (i.e., rope ratchet) that would loop around your cleats. Just pull the loose end to ratchet the halyard tight, and just press the button when it comes time to release it. I've used them for simple rigging on some experiment kayak-sailing rigs I've built... but I think their capacities (rated, usually, from about 80lbs. to 250lbs., depending on rope diameter) could easily serve as a slick way to have a single-line, easy-tensioning halyard for your staysail. Just an idea. Quote
Designer Posted March 21, 2006 Posted March 21, 2006 Wes, I am not sure which quickie tie downs you mean and if they are rust proof. It would not be hard to rig a multi purchase in the right spot now that I have found the sweet spot but I am not sure if I will bother as my current system works. Quote
Aaron_G Posted March 21, 2006 Posted March 21, 2006 Joe, where are you going to exhibit your boat on April 22-23? I would love to see your boat in person. Quote
wkisting Posted March 21, 2006 Posted March 21, 2006 Graham, This is what they look like... I snagged the pic from a website which sells them as "quickie tie downs" so apparently that's still one of the many brand names for these things. The cheeks are, I think, high density nylon/plastic, while the pivot, the ratcheting hub, and the hook are chrome-plated and galvanized steel (I'm guessing, not positive). They're originally meant to ratchet down tarps or motorcycles on trailers, so they should be reasonable rust-proof. I've used a pair to tie down my kayaks on the roof of my truck for several seasons... no rust so far, so the metal parts must be coated somehow. I don't think they're stainless though I could be wrong. In any case, I'm sure your system works fine too. I've just found these to be oh-so-handy because of the postive-click ratcheting action, and thought you might find them to be so too. Makes it very easy to get good, solid, stay-tight tension in a rope, yet is very easy to release at the press of a button. If you hacksaw through the base of that hook, you could just wrap a loop of rope around that end, and slip the loop around your cleat(s) on the boat. There wouldn't be much of anything to abrade against the boat, the black makes it inconspicuous, and the whole works would come down and fold away in a matter of a second or two. Here's the website where I pulled the pic: http://rvstuff.net/quickie.html Looks like their weight ratings are very conservative. The 3/8" rope diameter is rated to a max pull of 400 lbs., yet this website says it is capable of withstanding 1200 lbs. of pull! I suppose the 1/4" or 1/2" versions (smaller and lighter yet) would be plenty to serve as a halyard backstay thingy. By the way, I am no affiliated with Quickie Tie Down corp, yada, yada... Quote
Joe Nelson CS#35 Posted March 22, 2006 Author Posted March 22, 2006 Arron, I will be showing the boat at the Depot Bay Wooden Boat Festival. I will be there both Saturday and Sunday. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.