'eye' fairleads - as seen on Contessa 32's

MoodySabre

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I found a bit of a faff. Make a bowline in the end of the line, put that end over the pulpit and back under and round the cleat - oops no, got to thread the line through the eye. So it looks better with such a high toe rail but form over function IMO.
 

Poignard

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Probably have some advantage when moored alongside a high wall or in locks but almost the same result can be achieved by using 'handed' fairleads. I can't see any significant disadavantages with closed fairleads. If my boat happened to have had them when I bought her I certainly wouldn't have gone to the trouble of replacing them.
 
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vyv_cox

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Sadler 34 came with a version of these on the forward cleats. Ours were extremely inconvenient but fortunately not very well made. When the first one broke off I knocked the other off too and replaced both of them with standard handed fairleads. Several other owners have done the same.
 

doug748

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Bulwarks are not very fashionable now. Apart from the example already given, I can only think of the Bowman 40, though I am sure there are a number of Motorsailers sporting them.
The closed fairleads are no trouble, makes it easy to rig chafe preventers.
 

nmeyrick

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Bulwarks are not very fashionable now. Apart from the example already given, I can only think of the Bowman 40, though I am sure there are a number of Motorsailers sporting them.
The closed fairleads are no trouble, makes it easy to rig chafe preventers.

Also some Rivals, to my certain knowledge the 38 as that is what I have, to be honest I've never found the fairleads a hassle and the bulwark makes for good secure footholds on the foredeck, something I can attest to after a couple of seasons as kite monkey on a contessa race crew.

Would you care to elaborate on how you would rig a chafe preventer - sounds like something I could definitely make use of

Thanks
 

Fr J Hackett

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Vancouver 36 &38 have them, I changed the normal fairleads at the bow for "eye" type because inevitably lines ended up not having a fair - lead and put a strain on the cap rail to which the original fairleads were fixed to. I actually prefer them.
 

dje67

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Had them on a Beneteau Evasion bow and found them a bit of a pain. Not to the extent that I ever replaced them, but inconvenient. The eyes were quite small and would only take 3 reasonable-sized mooring lines (4 with a bit of "squashing the last one through". I always wanted to have permanent mooring lines with fixed eyes spliced. With the closed fairlead, the mooring eye wouldn't fit through once one line was already through.
 

doug748

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Would you care to elaborate on how you would rig a chafe preventer - sounds like something I could definitely make use of

Thanks

Only a nicety but,
I always find a preventer a tricky problem. If you put on a length of tube it simply slides along the line, if you tie it to the warp itself it often does the same thing, over time. At the bow you can always find some point to attach fixing lines, but an open fairlead tends to shrug them off.
A closed eye just gives you a secure point to tie your small stuff without fear of it coming off, and your hosepipe moving one way or the other.
 

Poignard

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I think others that have had an 'eye' fairlead have been the Laurent Giles and Tradewinds.
Have any of you been tempted to fit 'open' fairleads on top of the bulwarks/toerail?

Conventional fairleads on top of the rail might not be a very strong arrangement.

If, as someone above has suggested, they are not big enough to take several lines, I would add extra fairleads in the bulwarks/toerail; a foot or so away from the originals with additional cleats nearby.

Anyway, why not try your new boat for a season before committing yourself to 'improvements' that might turn out to been not worth the effort?
 

doug748

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...
Have any of you been tempted to fit 'open' fairleads on top of the bulwarks/toerail?

I think what you have, you get used to, but I do like the closed eye jobs. Also, in the case of the Contessa, the capping is a yachty/feeble thing, not suited to the job of supporting fairleads. (as Parsifal has pointed out). Its a design thing really for I would not want closed fairleads if they were not supported by the bulwark - viv_cos's point.
I have open fairleads aft, of course, and am not keen on them. This is partly because I know one of the screws is sheared on one, and partly because of the capping as mentioned above. It is often possible to lead lines without the aft fairleads (the low freeboard helps) and this is what I often do.
I prefer the closed fairleads fr'd beacause they are a good size and, 100% secure. If I need to slip a line singlehanded I lead it around a stanchion, motor against it (I know) and slip from there. I guess I would do this whatever fairleads I was equipped with.
- ell this is in danger of turning into one of those long rambles they nobody reads so toodle loo
 
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