by Guest » Thu Mar 30, 2000 1:00 am
Yes, I made the change. I bought a 4' piece of 1" racing T-track from Schrader for $42. I cut it into two 21" pieces and mounted them even w/ the bottom edge of the cockpit combing. Each piece is secured by 6 screws. The forward two are 1/4 x 20 x 1 1/4" machine screws, and the aft four screws are #12 x 1" wood screws since there is no easy access behind the seat backs on Spindrift DS1's. I figured if the wood screws ever strip out I will put in a 4" deck plate (inspection port) so that I can get my hand in and put machine screw w/ nuts on the back four screws as well. Right now it is rock solid, though, and I doubt that it will ever be a problem.
For the blocks, I used some from Ronston which are 40 mm swivel blocks w/ standup springs mounted on a track slide. They were $41 each at West Marine.
For the cam cleat, I'm using the Harken #241's that I already had mounted up on the cuddy. They are mounted on the thwarts as near the center as possible. I reinforced the thwarts by changing from #10 wood screws to 1/4 x 20 x 4" machine screws that go all the way through the glassed-in support board. I use 3 on each side.
The only problem I have is that it is difficult to recleat the jib when your crew is hiking. He was having to hold his hand way down to get the cleat to grab it, and occasionally used his foot to get it low enough. I need to change the angle of the cleat with either an angled base below each cam cleat, or bend the swivel part that supports the cleat up about 20 degrees higher. Not sure which approach I'll go with. I plan to call Harken's customer service line for some advise...
Having the jib lines in the middle of the cockpit is a bit of a hassle, but the jib looks MUCH better now. I used to get a lot of hook on the leech when beating and now it looks much smoother. I was much more competitive last Sunday at our club races, but I also had a borrowed set of sails so I can't say how much was due to the new jib sheet hardware... Feel free to e-mail me directly if you have detailed questions.
Kevin Clark
Dallas, TX
Kevin Clark (clarkr-at-aud.alcatel.com)