Any opinions on rope clutches?

[rudolph_hart]

Fitted a mixture of Spinlocks & Lewmars to a 33 footer for racing, which I kept for another 5 years by which time they had either suffered handle breakage or started slipping. This is was early '90s, and the designs may have changed.

Have you considered Easylock? Last two boats had them as standard (both cruised and raced), as has current one (cruising only). After at least 10 and max 16 years' use, none of them has ever slipped. 2x broken handles, both caused by treading on them when open.

 

[Dockhead]

I have had Lewmars and Spinlocks, none of which seemed that great. Recently replaced a broken (handle) Lewmar with one of the new streamlined Spinlocks. It seems quite substantial and well made and so far works fine. We shall see whether it holds up in the long run. It was not cheap.

 

[catalac08]

Garhauer clutches are all stainless, very well made and work without fault in my experience and even paying shipping from the USA the four that I bought (as two separate pairs) worked out about half the price of clutches from UK main sources. Worth thinking about.