last summer, I upgraded from a swiveling fairlead and cleat to a ratcheting carbo block for my mainsheet. the ratcheting carbo block (a Harken 2135) was/is a nice improvement – I like how the grooved edges of the sheave in the block grip the rope to ease the tension my hands/arms see from the sail pulling on the mainsheet. I haven’t installed a cam cleat on the cockpit lip of my new Sunfish yet, though – the plastic trim on the cockpit lip is sort of in the way, so I haven’t decided what to do there yet.
I had originally bought a stand-up spring, but as I mentioned back in October:
it was ridiculously hard to compress the spring down and then to try to slowly feed the little split ring onto the pin holding the ratchet block in place
but, a few weeks ago I followed the advice of some posters from the Sunfish Forum, and used (2) zip-ties to slowly compress the stand-up spring (a Harken 071) so that I could install the ratchet block. I also installed a spring cup (Harken HSB2) – which sits above the spring, and just below the base of the block. it’s about $2 for both the spring and spring cup, so a cheap upgrade.
for my sail on walled lake last week, I got to test out the ratchet block with the stand-up spring, and I must say – I am a big fan. it works just fine, and will automatically rotate with the mainsheet when I change tacks. there are a few times with really light wind where I’ll have to reach up and twist the block to the right direction, but overall it performed adequately. I just wish I had installed the stand-up spring earlier now, as it keeps the block from flopping around and scratching up the surface of the deck.
Hi! I’ve had my little boat for two summers now and have had a great time tweaking it. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your great ideas! I’ve added the spring, spring cup, cam cleat per your recommendations and they have been wonderful improvements.
I’ve also switched out many of the sail clips for electrical ties, and I added a rope guide next to the cam cleat to allow me to clip the daggerboard rope to it.
It’s been happy sailing! Thanks again!
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Janine, so glad to hear you like some of those upgrades! Happy sailing, and thanks for reading my blog!
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