Main Sheet Location Sails and Rigging- Standing and Running Forums

From the old old forums 🙂

Mainsheet Location & Staysail Improvement.

From: Martin Samuel
Date: 04 Nov 1999

I thru-bolted two pad-eyes, with backing plates, on the cabin top on either side of the main hatch immediately aft of the interior cross-beam. (Yes, the headliner is still down – but that’s another on-going saga.) Attached a bail immediately above to the boom and by using two block & tackle vangs, led back thru’ the dodger, each to a clutch and a #12 Andersen self-tailing winch I now have a sheet and a preventer – on either tack. It copies the ‘A’ look of the stays’l rig. Also, I heaved the club-footed boom overboard as it was lethal and can now sheet the stays’l in tighter when going to windward. This last move was personally confirmed an improvement by Hal Roth, which is good enough for me! En route to Bermuda June ‘99 the rig was seriously tested and worked just fine – met Arlene (1st of the season) approaching at the same time as being hit by a north Atlantic storm (last of the season).

Mainsheet Location

From: Greg Smith
Date: 04 Sep 1999

On my DE38 cutter the mainsheet has been tried in a variet of locations. I currently have a traveler located across the bridgedeck just aft of the companionway. For my use (family cruising) this seems to be the best. I have a 4 to 1 block – basically your standard heavy duty boom vang setup – with snap shackles at each end for easy removal (great when anchored – a zip in panel fits between the dodger and bimini). The boat you see in the sketches on this site is mine – thats why this may sound familiar. I also tried mounting the traveller across the cockpit – just ahead of the steering pedistal. This worked great for single handing, but really loused up the cockpit. You may also note from the sketches that I moved the primary jib sheet winches back to each side of the lazarette hatches. They are now easy to reach from the helm.

Re: Moving of main sheet track

From: Greg
Date: 23 Sep 1999

Here’s the logic I used (for what its worth) Putting the track aft of the lazarette hatches defeats much of the reason for a track – ie it takes a really long track to flatten the main if it is out very far. Placing the track ahead of the companionway hatch puts a tremendous strain on the boom – and the stock DE boom is not very large in diameter – I honestly don’t think it is up to the task. The bridgedeck seemed a good compromise. The main sheet is also easily reached from the helm.

Re: Moving of main sheet track

From:
Date: 23 Sep 1999

Gerry, why not place the traveler track on the doghouse roof over just in front of the companionway hatch? Would there not be enough leverage? Also, I saw one (Capt. Ron’s) where he did a great job installing a self-tacking harken system across the back of the lazarette just forward of the stern coaming.

BD