Problems with E-35 Main halyard

[Alan Clendinen]

The main halyard on our recently purchased E-35 MK III tends to slip when we try to tighten the luff on the mainsail. In looking at the running rigging specs, I see that it calls for 58-feet of 3/8 line, and 42-feet of 3/16 SS wire spliced in, but the previous owner replaced it with only 3/8 line. I don't know what type of line it is, but it's fairly stiff, so I'm guessing that it is a low-stretch material such as Teflon or Astra.
The winch is a Barient 21, and we are wrapping this 3/8 main halyard three times around the drum, which I would think would be sufficient to avoid slippage.
Any ideas on how to stop the slippage would be greatly appreciated.
Alan

 

[treilley]

Add another wrap or two. I always have 4 wraps and then through the ST on both my main halyard and my primarys.

 

[John Wressell]

Main Halyard Problem

With all the choices in halyards out there you certainly don't want to go back to wire to rope. Assume that you are running the halyard thru a Spinlock or something similar which should help. Try talking with the people at Annapolis Performance Sailing, they're very helpful.

John Wressell

 

[Alan Clendinen]

With all the choices in halyards out there you certainly don't want to go back to wire to rope. Assume that you are running the halyard thru a Spinlock or something similar which should help. Try talking with the people at Annapolis Performance Sailing, they're very helpful.

John Wressell

John,

Yes, the main halyard does go through a clutch before going to the winch, but when it slips on the winch, it is also slipping in the clutch.

The next time I take her out, I'll try wrapping four times around the winch and see if this stops the slipping.

Alan

 

[Mindscape]

The clutch should not slip?

Alan - if the clutch is slipping as well it might be time to replace them, if they are the original easylocks you'll find this a nice upgrade. There are a number of threads on this on this board. I replaced mine and found everything about the new clutchs is better. They also don't allow any slippage. I don't rely on the winch to keep the halyard tight but on the clutch.

As suggested I bet another couple turns will secure it and that's a much cheaper solution. But, I don't believe that the clutch should allow the line to slip at all under load.

 

[Steve]

Try the cleat

Alan .. Once you get the desired tension, try cleating off to the small cleat and leaving it wrapped on the winch. Assume you have the self-tailing winch left for the main sheet on the same side.

Steve
e35-3 #159

 

[Alan Clendinen]

Alan .. Once you get the desired tension, try cleating off to the small cleat and leaving it wrapped on the winch. Assume you have the self-tailing winch left for the main sheet on the same side.

Steve
e35-3 #159

Steve,

Yes, the Self-tailing winch for the mainsheet is just starboard of the main halyard winch. There is only one cleat, however, and it is currently being used by a spare halyard, which we have not yet identified. We could simply wrap the main halyard around the winch drum and then tie off to that cleat, but we would first need to secure this spare halyard somewhere else, and there are no other cleats nearby.

I'm not too keen on simply relying on the main halyard ST winch to secure the halyard, since doing so would put more wear on the same part of the halyard that is gripped by the teeth of the self-tailing groove. If we only wrap it around the drum, we won't get the wear, but then we definately need to use that cleat.

Alan (E-35 MK III #261)

 

[Steve]

e35-3 setup

Alan,
Sounds like your setup may be different or perhaps your line positioning leading aft. Ours has the main sheet Barient 19 ST-winch left and slightly aft of the Barient 18 non-ST halyard winch (both on the SB side of the boat). The non-ST-winch is positioned in-line aft of a forward double clutch containing the main halyard and the spin halyard. The ST-winch is in-line with and slightly aft of a double clutch containing the main sheet and vang. On the port side of the boat, we have the one non-ST-winch with a quad clutch containing the the jib halyard, 2 x reef halyards, and the main out-haul control. The up-haul or topping lift is forward on the boom. Both sides have a control cleat off set for general auxiliary use.

My thought was you use the non-ST winch to raise the main, once tensioned leave on that winch and cleat off. This assumes your clutch is slipping, either way I still cleat off even with the clutch working as a safety. Of course this ties up both SB winches, (the ST for the main sheet and the other for the main halyard) there could come a time where you might need the non-ST winch for the traveler, therefore having the clutch working is important.

Steve

 

[Alan Clendinen]

Steve,

Sounds like our boats have similar layouts in this area, but all four of our winches are Barient 21 with self-tailing. Do you know if the clutches are adjustable so they can be set to grip lines more tightly?

Alan

Alan,
Sounds like your setup may be different or perhaps your line positioning leading aft. Ours has the main sheet Barient 19 ST-winch left and slightly aft of the Barient 18 non-ST halyard winch (both on the SB side of the boat). The non-ST-winch is positioned in-line aft of a forward double clutch containing the main halyard and the spin halyard. The ST-winch is in-line with and slightly aft of a double clutch containing the main sheet and vang. On the port side of the boat, we have the one non-ST-winch with a quad clutch containing the the jib halyard, 2 x reef halyards, and the main out-haul control. The up-haul or topping lift is forward on the boom. Both sides have a control cleat off set for general auxiliary use.

My thought was you use the non-ST winch to raise the main, once tensioned leave on that winch and cleat off. This assumes your clutch is slipping, either way I still cleat off even with the clutch working as a safety. Of course this ties up both SB winches, (the ST for the main sheet and the other for the main halyard) there could come a time where you might need the non-ST winch for the traveler, therefore having the clutch working is important.

Steve

 

[e38 owner]

Slippage

I have found the rope cluches to slip a little, even the newer Lewmars I have installed. As the pressure is released I loose about 1-2" of tension before they get a good bite. That being said. Use the cluch for the spare halyard and the Cleat for the main. I have both Halyards running through a clutch but keep the main cleated when racing for draft position. If I need the winch. ( Spinnaker hoist) I lose a little bit of tension but can uses the winch for both halyards,

 

[Alan Clendinen]

E38 Owner,

Hey, now why didn't I think of simply securing the spare halyard with the clutch it runs through! Since it's not being used, it is not under much tension. Thanks for the suggestion.

How do you like your E-38? Before I bought my E-35 MKIII, I had my heart set on getting an E-38, but they are as scarce as hen's teeth here in Florida, so I settled for an E-35.

Alan

I have found the rope cluches to slip a little, even the newer Lewmars I have installed. As the pressure is released I loose about 1-2" of tension before they get a good bite. That being said. Use the cluch for the spare halyard and the Cleat for the main. There are also other solutions. (More expensive.)
1. Replace Clutch
2. Add Clutch ( A friend of mine uses two clutches on the main and jib) Mainly to take off some of the pressure without a winch but it also stops any slippage.
3. Add Cleat