I have never tried a mainsail downhaul (Duh!) but I did have one on my hanked-on jib. Now, admittedly, hanks are different than slides, but I found that when I "wove" the downhaul in and out of a couple of intermediate hanks the line would bind as I pulled it due to the friction created as it rubbed against the hanks. I went with a single connection at the head of the sail, a small block at the base, and a couple of stanchion-mounted fairleads back to the cockpit. As Harvey noted, putting tension of the line after hoisting would keep it from any entanglements. It worked so well it took me nine years to get around to installing roller furling, which I tried out yesterday for the first time. Great! Now, I'll shift that downhaul to the main.
Fair winds,
Jim Calleran, BayBird, C27 #2784
Mathews Yacht Club, VA (37°27.8' N / 76°18.6' W)
http://www.mathewsyachtclub.com/
Harvey
Rosenberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
However, shoving it thru a couple slides looks like a good idea, not because of fouling rigging, but it might spread the downward load among the slides when you are in the last half of the takedown. I may try it tomorrow.
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