Two-ratio mainsheet

I have just such a system on my boat (a Polish built Huzar 30).

It's a continuous line with two jamming cleats. Pull one side, and effectively you have a 4:1. Pull the other and it's 8:1. Never quite figured out how it works, but it does!
 
Two ratio mainsheet

Ken,
I have one on my Dehler 34 and it is brilliant. I think they are made by Easy Marine and marketed as the Easy-Matic. Easy make good blocks too but when I tried to replace some of mine I had great difficulty finding a UK supplier but I think they are still in business in maybe Denmark.
 
A DIY arrangement isn't too hard to fix.

Put a triple block on the boom and a row of 3 eyebolts on the deck close together. On these, arrange a single, a double and another single. Put a cam jammer in front of each single. That will give you 3:1 or 6:1

It would be more tricky to arrange on a traveller but with a combined block/jammer instead of the singles it can be done.
 
Twister_Ken said:
I've seen a mainsheet arrangement where, effectively, there is a double sheet. Handling both together gives fast adjustment/low power. Cleating one off and using the other gives slower adjustment/more power.

Anyone got chapter and verse on how to organise this?
Click to expand...

We put an Easymatic system on our last boat (W33) and it was excellent. The main block is a double one wth two cam cleats side by side and a continuous line. Pull or release both lines for high speed in or out or just one for low gear high power. I bought ours eons ago from Aladdins Cave together with a new mainsheet (they are generally a bit thinner) which they spliced to make it continuous for me. I haven't noticed them in the UK in recent years but I'm sure I did see them on sale in the chandlers in Cherbourg next to Normandie Wine shop in the marina.

There are raceboat systems around but rather more complex usually, see the Harken catalogue for variations.
 
An alternatve which might be easier to retrofit and give even easier adjustment is to add a "fine tune" arrangement.
We have a standard 6:1 mainsheet system. But rather than tying off the fixed end it is fitted with another smaller sized 6:1 and jammer (a mini-version of the main system in fact).

The way it works is to pull the mainsheet on full, then upwind can add more tension very easily with a 36:1 ! Needs quality ball bearing blocks and a reasonably high tech rope for the fine tune, but works a treat.
Best advice is to pull the fine tune right down ofwind - been a couple of reported incidents with Slumsail Sunfasts where the top pulley has been allowed to fly when gybing in strong winds
 
As others, I have a 3:1 / 6:1 arrangement and it works well.

One point well worth making is to avoid thick line. As first acquired, mine had old stiff 12mm stuff. I replaced this with a nice new bit of 12mm, but got little improvement - still hard to pull in and manual overhauling often required to let out, particularly if trying to let out on 6:1. A switch to 8mm line revolutionised it: most of the friction vanished and other than in flat calm overhauling is never required. Replacing that line gave me the best improvement per £ spent I've ever had!

I didn't try to splice the ends together, they're just tied with a figure of eight, but occasionally having to re-centre this is no real problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top