DaySailer.org Forum

I'm hoping to buy a Code 0 this season and am trying to plan ahead. The sail designer said it'd likely be able to sheet to blocks attached to the stern cleats, like a spinnaker.

I was curious how folks have their spinnaker or Code 0 (Doyle UPS) sheets set up and what people are using for cleating.

There's an older, much older post here on the Doyle UPS (either in Rigging or Sails). That one is quite detailed and should have a lot of answers.

If the sailmaker thinks that sheeting to the stern cleats should work, it means that the fore-aft distance should be correct to give you a reasonable sheeting angle for that sail. You can always do what I did for my spinnaker blocks, which started out as a quick jury rig to test out a hand-me-down spinnaker, but proved so usable, that there never was a permanent replacement.



I never bothered with a way to cleat the spinnaker sheets in front, mainly because given the circumstances, it's effectively a light wind sail for me.

Unlike what I did, you might like to have a second set of blocks at the front. If you are flying this sail instead of a jib, then you could simply repurpose the jib fairleads and cleats, just that the sheet enters them from the back of the boat instead of the front. (If you want to be able to leave the jib sheets rigged, then you might be able to mount a second car on each jib track.)



My tracks don't have end caps, so I could slide a second car onto them, or even take one car off and add another. Some tracks have end caps, then your only option would be to re-string the block each time, or, alternatively mount a fixed block somewhere between stern cleats and jib fairlead with some way to cleat the sheet for the code 0.

(click on images to enlarge)

Greenlake, that's brilliant! I hadn't thought of just buying another set of jib cars as well as the turning blocks attached to the stern cleats.

The idea I had come up with were to use a Trapeze cleat from ClamCleats with a roller as both turning block and cleat, but I wasn't sure it would work smoothly enough or uncleat easily.

Thanks. Part of my thinking is based on the fact that my sailmaker advised using the forward position in the jib car and to use inhauls for sheeting angle adjustments. That means that most of the track is unused. But even if it's not, it's easy enough to slide off the unused car if you really need the other one at that location for some conditions.

Why did I never add cleats my spinnaker? Part of it has to do with the need to continually adjust the sheet. For the guy, if I need help holding it, I just tend to make a turn or half turn around one of the horn cleats. In my boat there are two on the aft part of the cuddy deck and one on the CB trunk, so a quick turn around whichever is nearest at hand will take care of the guy.

For a code zero you don't have a guy, and you don't trim the sheet continuously. It's more like a jib that way. Hence your natural desire for cleats.