Those of you that have installed the mainsheet cleat - where exactly did you locate it, and how did you fasten it?
Thanks,
Bob
Bennett Yachting has a base you can use on the center foot ridge. I think everyone that went with the floor block eventually went with off the boom sheeting. It really does work better once you are accustomed to it.
I have to agree! Finally got the boat rigged and in the water and went for a sail and the boom sheeting wasn't as bad as I remember from the first time I sailed a VX in January.
Quote from: Intensitysails on October 15, 2014, 03:31:10 PM
Bennett Yachting has a base you can use on the center foot ridge. I think everyone that went with the floor block eventually went with off the boom sheeting. It really does work better once you are accustomed to it.
I agree also. I was sure I would hate not having a floor block, so I put it on used it for the first sail, the promptly unreeved the line and haven't looked back.
I suspect I might use it for day sailing or single handing, but I'm not sure.
Don Winston, VX 145
I have one but have not installed it. Instead I replaced the boom cleat with one that has a set of jaws. There are times when I need to have both hands available and the jaws allow the main to be cleated while I attend to the situation.
I have improved the mainsheet cleat. I tied a piece of paracord through the ratchet selector and around the boom. It keeps the block correctly oriented. Last week at the sail-a-small-boat day no one had a problem with it. Picture attached of block on boom. The paracord is small enough that it does not interfere with the ratchet selector travel.
Why not just use a pivot block? [url]https://www.velasailingsupply.com/Carbo-Pivot-Blocks-p/hr2156.htm][url][url]https://www.velasailingsupply.com/Carbo-Pivot-Blocks-p/hr2156.htm (http://[url)[/url][/url]
Good question. This has been suggested. The harken pivot block has a limited cleating angle range which may be a problem. My layout has more range because the block can swing fore and aft. However it is set up for the skipper to use. When I have 3 on the boat the mid crew is too far forward to play the mainsheet unless I rotate the cam arm forward. In addition you will want a ratchet block in the system. The pivot block does not include that feature therefore you will need to swap one of the other block out to a ratchet.
The pure dinghy sailors stay with original block. I give up a little feel for the sail for the convenience of cleating the mainsheet, but I sail more hours than race.
Good luck
See your point about angles - but this would only be for singlehanded sailing IMHO - for racing the cleat isn't needed. It would be fine to have the ratchet block as the forward turning block at the (almost) boom end.
Cheers,
Christian
You are correct.
Part of the fun for me with this boat has been refining the lines, blocks, etc to make it easy to sail. When I was younger I could brute force my way along. Now with my wife as crew it requires a lot more testing of set ups to make it possible for her to control the boat too. She has half my strength and endurance. If I want to race I can't wear her out.
Good luck
After this last post I changed to a deck mounted mainsheet cam cleat. Surprisingly it is a much better solution. The deck cleat was not a tripping problem. In light air I hold the line above the cleat. In heavy air leverage to the deck cleat while hiking was better, also a surprise. Wish I had made this change sooner.
Hello,
I have a barely used floor Harken ratchet & swivel cleat from barely used #216. Would be happy to sell it cheap.
Paul Murphy
Annapolis.