Intro/Spinlock XAS clutches

[Porrick]

Hi,

This is my first post, so I guess a brief intro is in order before I ask questions: I live near DC and have sailed a bit in the Chesapeake and also chartered (bareboat in the FWI) and delivered (coastal Maine) bigger boats a few times with more experienced folks. But most of my sailing has been up in Casco Bay, Maine. I just got a 1978 J/24 that is in pretty good condition. She's a bit aged for any serious racing (though I will casually race her in the island yacht club events when I'm up there), so I'm really just interested in making her a little more singlehand/cruise friendly. I'm starting small:

1) jib prefeed --she has a very old metal dual-track racing foil that hangs up without contant attention when raising sail. I figure a prefeed will help.
Q1: Is anyone using these things and do they work? Will the $100 Signet (or such) be significantly better than the $40 versions by Schaeffer et al?

2) I want to replace the ancient halyard jam cleats (which are backed by a good winch). They are very difficult to release under tension, which makes me a little nervous and leaves my wife unable to assist. I'm thinking Spinlock XAS clutches, which I'm hoping can be released without significant strength/intake using the winch. Will this work? Any opinions on the product?

3) Finally, gonna paint the interior and looking for any recommendations on paint and/or things to keep in mind/watch out for.....

To much. Sorry. Antway, glad to have found this excellent resource and lloking forward to sticking around a while............

Porrick

[Gary M]

Hi I recently installed the new Lewmar D2 halyard clutches and am very happy with them. The mechanism and construction looked better then the Spinlock but I was not able to try the Spinlock. Be careful to buy the correct size for your halyards.

Before I would invest money in an old metal foil I would look seriously at replacing it. The new Harkens look really nice and the sail will slide in them much better. I am just about to buy one to replace my old metal foil.

Gary

[LazyGuy]

Porrick,

The added cost of the Signet is to gain the flexibility of not having to lower the sail to get the sail into the prefeed. Harken makes one that is even cheaper than the Schaefer. At $10 it is well worth the try. They work well for the race boats that I have been on. We do not raise sails without using the prefeed.

As for the Spinlock clutch, they are great also the PX cleat works better than the cam cleat in that ease of operation is independent of load. The PX is not recommended on lines tensioned by winch so go with the clutch. I have the PX for my outhaul and topping lift. They work wonderfully

As for paint: It is the interior I would use either Interlux Brightsides or Petit Unepoxy over primer. It is easy to get a great looking finish with either of these.

Cheers
Dennis

[Porrick]

Gary and Dennis,

Thanks very much for the responses. Seems like the clutch idea is the right one for the halyards. As for the foil, I guess I'll go for the cheapo pre-feed and see if it makes things easier. In reality (and the long-run), I'm seeing a Harken furling system in my future......

Porrick