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Spinnaker sheet cleat location

PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:33 pm
by holstein
Its been about a year now that I've been fiddling around with rigging my DS-I with a spinnaker, but now I am finally ready to start drilling holes.

Due to the configuration on my cockpit, I will need to cleat off the spinnaker sheets on the rail. (my seats are enclosed so there is no way to run the sheets under the rail.

I plan on installing a standing block in the stern that will feed a check block and cam cleat mounted on the rail facing the center of the cockpit.

At about what location should I install the check block/ cam cleat ?

I was thinking that while sailing downwind, the helms person would be sitting more towards the rear of the cockpit. So perhaps the spinnaker sheet cam clear should be at the mid point of the cockpit ?

Thanks
Bill H

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:14 pm
by K.C. Walker
Bill,

I've been thinking about this also as I'm getting ready to rig my UPS gennaker. Because you are planning to cleat on the opposite side of the cockpit, maybe it wouldn't matter that much where it was. You could just put it in the aft corner of your cockpit near the turning block. If you put a wide-angle fairlead on the cleat you should be able to manage it from any location. It seems like this would keep clutter to a minimum, also.

For me, unimpeded movement on the side deck is a premium. I think that once you have the spinnaker you're going to need to be hiking a lot more. I like to be able to slide fore and aft on the side deck easily, to balance the boat, especially when things get exciting.