Upgrades

[Special K]

My second year owning a 1986 E28 is rapidly coming to a close. We have refinished the cabin sole, added a drop leaf table in the cockpit, upgraded to self-tailing jib winches, added rope clutches on the starboard side of the cabintop and replaced the traveler car.

My biggest surprise in two seasons of owning this boat has been the percentage of time of spend single handed. To this end I am thinking about making the boat more user friendly. I am looking at leading the main outhaul, cunningham, topping lift and maybe reefing lines back to a bank of rope clutches on the port cabintop.

I would appreciate any input or ideas, and photos of deck layouts from those who have "boldly gone" where I am contemplating. Thanks in advance.

Peter

 

[HughHarv]

My second year owning a 1986 E28 is rapidly coming to a close. We have refinished the cabin sole, added a drop leaf table in the cockpit, upgraded to self-tailing jib winches, added rope clutches on the starboard side of the cabintop and replaced the traveler car.

My biggest surprise in two seasons of owning this boat has been the percentage of time of spend single handed. To this end I am thinking about making the boat more user friendly. I am looking at leading the main outhaul, cunningham, topping lift and maybe reefing lines back to a bank of rope clutches on the port cabintop.

I would appreciate any input or ideas, and photos of deck layouts from those who have "boldly gone" where I am contemplating. Thanks in advance.

Peter

I'd invest in a self-steering set up first, then see what lines really need to be lead back to the cockpit. There are tiller and wheel pilots with remote controls that free you up to move around the boat.

 

[Frank Langer]

Harvey raises a good point about wheel/tiller pilots, autohelm, etc. to let the boat sail itself while you move about when single handing. These also let you grab a bite to eat, use the head, etc.

However, I also do alot of single handing (though prefer to sail with my wife, but she's not always available to join me), and do have lines run aft to the cockpit on our E30+. While I'm not at the boat and can't send pictures, we have two sets of rope clutches, one on each side of the companionway entry. The starboard side has the mainsheet, main halyard, 1st reefing line and uphaul; the port side has the boom vang, 2nd reefing line, outhaul and spinnaker halyard. The jib halyard for our roller furling is also led aft, but through a smaller cam cleat beside the rope clutches. There are blocks at the base of the mast, a deck organizer on each side and some fairleads on each side about half way back between the mast and the rope clutches to keep each line in place.

It all works very well, so the only time I have to go forward is when reefing, to put the reef cringle on the hook at the gooseneck. I haven't figured out a way to run the reefing lines without having to go forward, in such a way as to get good sail shape without too much friction in the blocks/lines to make it easy to do.

I hope that helps a bit.

Frank

 

[mherrcat]

Frank, what brand of rope clutches are you using? I have Spinlock (I believe they are XAS) and as far as being ganged together, I have only seen them with as many as three clutches. My boat currently has a three-gang on the port side and a two-gang on the starboard side. I was thinking of replacing the two-gang with a three-gang to add a spinnaker halyard. Since I am considering an asymmetrical spinnaker, the only other line I would need to terminate would be a downhaul; not sure what to do about that.

My outhaul and topping lift are on the boom and that doesn't seem to present a problem as I don't seem to need to adjust them as much.

 

[Frank Langer]

Mark,

I'm not at the boat today, so can't say for sure, but I think mine are Spinlock as well. I know I have those lines running aft on each side, so I'm thinking either they do make a four line or perhaps I have two two-line installed side by side. They were added by a previous owner, so I didn't do the install and have gotten so used to having all the lines there that I can't quite picture them when I'm not at the boat.

If I see something helpful when I'm there in the next day or so, I'll update.

Frank

 

[mherrcat]

I'm not sure I could use two two-gang clutches side-by-side. The issue is the mid-boom sheeting with the traveller on top of the cabin just forward of the companionway. The space between the trunk that the companionway hatch slides into and the raised traveller mounts on either side only allow three lines to pass through without having the furthest outside one rubbing over the edge of the traveller mount...

 

[Frank Langer]

Mark,

So now I'm puzzled, as we both have the E30+, I also have the mid-boom sheeting with a traveller in front of the companionway, just in front of the dodger, and I have the hood that the companionway cover slides into as well. My lines do not rub on the traveller ends.

I'll check when I'm at the boat tomorrow....

Frank

 

[Frank Langer]

Hi Mark,

I checked the rope clutches on our boat today, and they are labelled "Easy Lock". They look like a Spinlock, but are apparently made by Rig Rite. I have two placed directly side by side to allow four lines to be led back to the cockpit on each side. The deck organizers are two-tiered, allowing for some lines from the mast to run on the lower blocks and some to be run in the 2nd tier on top of them, to save space. There is enough room on my boat for the lines to be led between the hood that the companionway cover slides into, and the raised fibreglass square that the end of the traveller is mounted on. No lines are rubbing either the hood or the traveller mount, and it all works quite well.

I hope that helps.

Frank