DaySailer.org Forum

New Harken stuff is really nice. I'm looking forward to a more comfortable singlehanding experience with the cleats on the trunk.

Very nice.

There are two philosophies about the "keeps" or wire loops on the cleats. (I'll mention them here, but will state that this is one of those matters of taste.)

Some like the keeps, because they keep the sheets next to the cleat when uncleated (they may also help some with cleating from the rail, but they can lead to a jib sheet recleating itself after you've cast it off). But if you ever pull on the part between fairlead and cleat, you have to hand it off, so you can pull on the correct side. And I find it's a bit challenging to work the sheet sitting on the wrong side of the boat

Others, like myself, like the freedom of being able to grab any part of the sheet and then "dropping it into" the cleat from above, without changing hands. (I even tie together the ends of my sheets so I can grab any part of the jib sheet - others find that very confusing). I like the freedom of working the sheets from any position, even if I have some passenger blocking the crew position.

Finally, without a keep, one tug and the sheet is free and guaranteed to not recleat itself.

A trick worth knowing is the "foot": placed on top of the sheet it will apply downward pressure to help it cleat. From some positions, if you sit high enough, you may need this trick even with the keeps.

zeroready wrote:New Harken stuff is really nice. I'm looking forward to a more comfortable singlehanding experience with the cleats on the trunk.

Are there metal plates fiberglassed under those mounting areas that you drilled and tapped? I plan on doing that upgrade to mine soon.

Thanks

No I don't think so, the tap went in pretty easily. But those raised angled areas on top of the trunk do seem substantially thicker than other areas of the hull so it's probably got extra fiberglass. I used 1 1/2 screws I think and I filled the screw holes with caulk. Running the sheets through the original bullseyes at the cleats in the traveler's and just skipping the cleats there works well. With the fairlead and the raised angle it's enough to keep the sheet from popping out the top of the center cleat.

I can see that the forces on the cleat screws would be almost all in shear anyway, unlike where the mainsheet block attaches.

Yeah it's solid, clearly oday meant for us to mount cleats there.