Good morning
You make a good point. I do not normally adjust my topping lift at all. I will give that a try.
I usually set my topping lift once early in the season and do not touch it unless it loosens up. I have considered adding a rope clutch or something similar to the boom to make the adjustments easier but have not gotten to that project.
Thanks
David
David, I searched unsuccessfully the maintenance site for the mast cam cleat. It sounds like a simple and effective solution for us single handers. If you could direct within the maintenance site, I would appreciate. If not could you describe where on the mast you positioned the cam cleat. Thanks,
Jay Montgomery
Artichoke
We had a sail with Jerry O'Neil, as I remember near Annapolis.
If I remember his cam cleat it had the cam cleat on a "U" so it was
away from the mast by an inch or more, he could raise the sail most of
the way standing at the mast and pull it outward into the cleat. He
could then walk back and finish raising the sail with the cockpit
winch. (Which would pull the line inward toward the mast and out of
the cam cleat).
Doug Haas
Jim and Jay, I looked online today and wasn’t able to locate the article I was thinking of. When the owner’s listserve was moved to Google, I think not everything carried over. My boat is still under winter cover. I will be happy to take a picture of my bracket, when I uncover it in a couple weeks, but send me an email sometime after 4/15 to remind me or I will surely forget.
In the meantime, I will try to describe it more completely for you. My bracket is made of 1/8” aluminum bar, about 2” wide, 12-14” long bent into a squared off U shape, with two short tabs angling outward from each leg at the open end. The closed end of the U is about 4 long, the legs of the U about 3” and the tabs 1-2”. The cam cleat is mounted on the inside of the closed end of the U bracket, with the line entry side facing upward. The bracket is positioned over the main halyard, 8-9’ feet off the deck and attaches to the mast with a hose clamp that goes around the mast, over the tabs and through slots at the junctions of the legs and tabs (and under the halyard and sail track). To engage the halyard in the cam cleat, after raising the main, you just pull the halyard slightly away from the mast and downward. The beauty of this setup, as opposed to simply mounting a cam cleat directly on the mast, is that as soon as you apply any additional tension on the halyard, the halyard pulls out of the cam cleat and runs free. It is quite ingenious and sounds much more complicated than it really is.
Hope this helps.
David Young
Bay Cat, 30U #402
Traverse City / Suttons Bay, MI
Here are some pictures to go with the description below.
Jeff Dix
Fairwind
N30U #514
Annapolis, MD
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Thanks for posting this, Jeff – I do a lot of single handling and having an extra pair of hands at the mast will be a welcome assist.
Bill Baxter
Persistence NS30 #507
Penetang ON
That’s it. Thanks for posting the pics Jeff.
