What do you think of this lee cloth install?

[labatt]

A person doing general projects on our boat is thinking of installing a lee cloth like this... Any thoughts? It seems much nicer than lining the overhead with bails.

[bestfriend]

Cool, it just tucks under the settee when not in use? Off topic, whats the PP515 on your site, dream boat? Very nice.

[labatt]

It will be secured under the cushions with additional hooks and bails, or something similar. The PP515 is our current lead contendor for our next boat in a year and a half, although we're leaning towards a "new to us" boat more and more these days.

[sailingdog]

Looks good to me... I just wonder how well it will resist you falling through the lee cloth. The padeye would be better if the screws were in sheer rather than in tension, since they'd be much stronger that way.

[labatt]

So you'd prefer to see the more traditional method of mounting to the overhead? We were concerned about that since we didn't know what we could mount it to up above that would secure it properly. There's a gap between the wood headliner and the glass deck and we didn't know how well the headliner would hold.

How well it will resist us falling through the lee cloth is exactly what I'm wondering

[sailingdog]

By saying I would like to see the screws in sheer, rather than tension, I would move the padeye to be in-line with the lee cloth's rope and mount it on the underside or front of the Nav Console. This way the force will be trying to pull the padeye through the screw shafts, rather than just relying on the threads of the screws to hold them in place.

I would also be a bit wary of the setup on the forward anchor, in the second and fourth photos, which runs the line through a fiddle. Any significant force against the lee cloth may cause the line to tighten enough to rip the fiddle off the side of the forward counter. It would be much safer to install the padeye on the front of that console, on the fiddle itself—through to the countertop.

By doing this, it should be much stronger, and more likely to resist breaking under the strain of you falling into the lee cloths. Use the longest screws you can btw.

[werebeagle]

SD

Actually, screws are usually designed to be stronger with a direct pull on the threads, and not in sheer, when properly sized and the proper type screw into the proper material. Where the apparent extra strength comes from when in sheer is from the friction of the base plate of whatever the screws are holding.

[sailingdog]

Charlie-

While I am a bit worried about the screws pulling out of the wood, provided the wood is sound that isn't all that high a problem. However, I am also concerned with what the screws are screwed into pulling out... The side of the nav console might pull free, even if the screws hold. By putting the screws into the front panel of the nav console, it is far more likely that the fasteners that hold that in place will continue to hold it in place under such a strain.

The problem is that whatever is the weakest part of the restraint system is going to fail first. It is generally best if the line that holds the top of the lee cloth is the first thing to fail...but in this setup that looks very unlikely.

Also, those are awfully small screws, and probably not very long is my guess. If Labatt weighs 180 lbs... it is unlikely that two screws that size are going to hold his weight in a knockdown.

[werebeagle]

SD

That logic makes sense. I was just correcting the common misconception that screws are stronger in sheer than in tension. The opposite is true when the correct size and type of screw is used.

[sailingdog]

Charlie-

I've found that when you're putting things on an aluminum spar, you often want the screws in sheer, since the screws are only threaded into fairly thin aluminum, and in that case, the screw threads aren't as strong in tension as the screws will be in sheer.

Unfortunately, screws may be designed to be stronger in tension than sheer, but in the real world that sometimes doesn't work out to be the case... often the best installations use them in sheer rather than tension, since that can often maximize their holding power.