Mainsheet (and/or all sheet) line thickness

[cruiserpete]

Hi all,

I'm replacing the running rigging on my I563 and the mainsheet line thickness looks way too thick and overkill. Poss 12mm, I'm thinking of running 8mm for the mainsheet as the bulk of my foresail sheets are 6mm.

On my regular foresail sheets I've tired to run 8mm through some of the jammers and 8mm is just a a bit too thick and I could feel friction through fairleads and/or blocks but 6mm rums through fantastically without friction.
The 6mm double braided has a breaking strain of 900kg so should be sufficient for my needs.

As mentioned, I'm thinking of running 8mm ( 1600kg breaking strain )or 10mm( 2000kg breaking strain ) line for the mainsheet.

What are others running?
Cheers, Pete

[Dr. Peter]

My mainsheet is about 5mm while my jib and spinnaker sheets are 8mm.

My main sheet runs off a rope horse and is not particularly sophisticated. On tacking I usually let it off a tad, throw the helm alee, get on the new tack and, once up to speed again, just give the mainsheet a little tweak. Oftentimes I don't even do this much. The forces are not huge and I don't find myself gathering great armfuls of mainsheet in double quicktime (which is precisely what I do as the mainsheet hand on the Timpenny 770 I race on). Thinking on it - the blocks you have can impact here. My mainsheet is about 4:1.

The jib sheets seem to involve greater forces with a ratio of 1:1 and here the line size is as much about comfort as power. I changed the turning blocks and snail cam cleats, positioned on the cockpit coaming, to suit the size of the line which is lead back into the cockpit via Barber Haulers (search this term for a picture)

I can talk about other lines if req. Hope this helps,

[no way]

I have an 8mm mainsheet. 10 mm headsail sheets which are the side deck to winch set up. With all the new techie rope just about any diameter will have breaking strain compliance on the I563 - comfort in your hands(or female crew's hands) is probably more important

[Yara50]

Comfort and matching your existing equipment is the key. Yara's mainsheet and jib sheets are 8mm, and that is OK on the hands. The jib sheets have the original 2:1 reduction design (Pulleys on the jib clew), with clam cleats on the cabin top.

[cruiserpete]

Comfort and matching your existing equipment is the key. Yara's mainsheet and jib sheets are 8mm, and that is OK on the hands. The jib sheets have the original 2:1 reduction design (Pulleys on the jib clew), with clam cleats on the cabin top.

Hi,

Would you mind explaining the (pulleys on the jib clew) please, I'm unfamiliar with this.

Thanks, Pete

[Yara50]

Would you mind explaining the (pulleys on the jib clew) please, I'm unfamiliar with this.

The original design has two pulleys blocks shackled to the jib clew. Each jib sheet starts at the cabin top slide track, goes around one of the pulleys, and comes back through a fairlead on the cabin top track to the cleat on the cabin top. ( You can see the cabin top arrangement in my post on http://www.investigator563.com/forum/vi ... ?f=4&t=438 )

This arrangement gives a 2:1 mechanical advantage, and hence no winch is required. Disadvantage: In a strong wind, a metal block flapping around on the end of the sail can do some damage to anything it comes in contact with!

[Dr. Peter]

I now run my jib sheets from the clew to a block on the deck via barber hauler blocks 1:1. Less hassle than the 2:1 blocks fitted originally. A 563 is really a large dinghy and so 2:1 blocks are not really necessary in my opinion.