Cockpit winch/rigging tips?

[reidmefirst]

I've been doing some singlehanded and doublehanded racing lately and running into frequent problems with the cockpit winches and jib sheets.

Problem number the one might be easy to fix by restoring to a standard setup, but not sure. I had the boat overhauled last year and removed the turning blocks that were towards the stern of the boat. I actually never used them, so figured why keep them. But this year I'm wondering if they're a good idea. I frequently get overrides on the winches. I usually have the jib cars a pin or two aft of the cabin bulkhead as I use a 155 headsail all the time. Lines come right from the cars around the winch, and I guess the angle is not great, and this seems to promote overrides. Or maybe it's just me. But seems like if I have two or more wraps around the winch and grind in and pull down to the jam cleat, about half the time it happens...unless I really try to be careful.

Problem number the two is funnier: I have probably the original jam cleats on the boat. They are located just under the winches. I kinda hate them...feels like if I look at the sheet the wrong way, it ends up popping out of the jam cleat and ruining trim. Or I trim in juuuust right and then lose an inch or two of trim just getting the line to stick in the cleat.

I'm curious what people do on their boats on both counts: do others use turning blocks for the sheets and do they help? And has anyone made a nice cam clean setup/have pics of it? Do folks use self tailing winches in the back or is that frowned upon?

I'm thinking of doing something like a raised cam cleat aft of the winch, on the deck. This is basically me fishing for ideas or "show me your winches" photos .

[Jameso]

The only time I use the turning blocks is when i am single handing and i am cross sheeting, otherwise the sheet goes directly to the winch. We can’t use more than two wraps on the gross trim or we risk an over ride. Once gross trimmed we Usually take another wrap or two for fine trimming. Most folks remove the turning blocks and the jam cleats, some even shorten the genoa track. We replaced jam cleats with cam cleats right below the winch, we used the upper hole of the jam cleat mounting as one of mounting holes for the cam cleat. I suggest using Harken 280 ocean cams or Ronstan C cams, Both are larger then the standard 150 harken cam cleat. The bigger cam cleat makes it easier to cleat/ uncleat and eliminates the need for a riser. I haven’t seen any 7.9s retrofit cleats to the deck instead of the seat backs near the jam cleat location. I took my primary selftailers off and replaced them with plain top lewmar 30s. Some folks have selftailing winches that let them just remove the tailing arm, that works too. The selftailers are slow to strip, if you’re racing the boat your tacks will be slower. When it quits raining I’ll get you a photo of my set up, Good luck.

[Pete]

We have also removed the turning blocks. Every 180 degree turn doubles the load. I installed another block on a car as aft as possible while still ahead of winch. No over rides ever. Alternatively you could install an angled riser under the winch to improve the angle at which the sheet meets the winch. Both work well.

[reidmefirst]

Thanks for the tips. Picked up a set of cam cleats, I might have to try the second car idea if things continue to be a problem.

Some old guys will be sailing with me this Wednesday (this time of the year the beercan races start too early for those with regular 9-5 jobs to make it). So we'll see if the constant overrides are an 'us' thing .