New Eclipse Owner

[slode]

Hi, I'm a proud new owner of Glory (to be renamed Sylvia after my late grandmother) a 2006 Eclipse Hull# 41.  Picked her up in MI and made the haul home to central MN with no issues.  Even camped out overnight at Wal-Mart and tested the galley, stove, head, and quarter births.  She's pretty comfy inside. I've read through most of the past posts and have learned a lot from you all.  I've raised and lowered the mast a few times with the mastender setup and that works well, and I have rigged everything and done some "backyard sailing".  Waiting till next spring to get her wet.  I have a few projects planned for the winter including installing shore power w/ an onboard battery charger and 120V outlet/s in the cabin,  repairing some gelcoat crazing and finishing a few poorly finished old gelcoat repairs, and some other odds and ends.

One modification that had been made by the original owner was running the main sheet to a ratchet block w/ cam-cleat mounted on a swivel at the front of the cockpit floor.  The second owner I bought her from left that as it was and mainly sailed single handed.   I don't like it as it really gets in the way and we plan on sailing quite a bit with guests (3-4 in the cockpit).  After getting a picture of the factory mainsheet rig from Gary Hutchins, who has been very helpful, I don't think I like that setup either as with someone sitting in front of me I don't think having the sheet cleated at the cabin top is going to be very accessible.

Has anyone ran the mainsheet straight off the boom gallows and put the cleat back there?  I'm looking for something easy to work while seated back at the stern?  I've played around a bit with the ratchet block w/ cam cleat from my Nacra 5.0 attached directly to the traveler and it seems like it would work and rig 3:1 or 4:1 with the other factory blocks on the boom but I'd like to see if others have experience with other setups that work.  And is 3:1 adequate in heavy winds or would it be better to go 4:1?

Looking forward to next season and getting to know some fellow Eclipse sailors, maybe even meeting some in the upper Midwest. 

[lkm]

Welcome.  The Eclipse is a wonderful boat - you will enjoy.  With 3-4 it'll be tight, however.

Regarding the main sheet -- Yes, I had a similar issue.

PO also didn't like the factory setup stating that was too long a sheet to head up to the mast and back to the cam cleat near the cabin, so he rigged a block mid mast and ran it to a side cleat which was just weird because it required adjustment on tack.   I hated it and went back to the factory setup, but realized his issue was the type of line he was using was too large for the blocks and stretched too much.   He had also tried running it back to the tiller and gave me the blocks to do that, but I couldn't make that work, either.

So, I bought new blocks and line and refitted so that I could either use a cam cleat just in front of the bimni, or run up to the mast.

Here is a picture of the blocks.  It's kind of hard to see, but hopefully will help to clarify.
The sheet starts at the aft of the boom, then to a block at the traveller, then back to the mid biin as part of the block that has the cam cleat, then back to block at the traveller, then to block farther aft on the boom, then to block with the cam cleat.     Running with the sheet through this cam cleat gives a tug forward to release and a tug back to sheet in.  The sheet is long enough to go to bypass the last step through block and cam cleat and go strait up to the blocks at the mast like the factory setup.

I also used a better grade of line of smaller diameter so the blocks run smoothly. If I was doing it again I would use a dyneema or vectran core like Samson MLX to reduce stretch.

End result worked much better in my opinion.  Hope it helps.

[slode]

Thanks for the info.  I can see with a bimini you need to consider clearance and access.  Don't have a bimini now but may consider adding one so I'll keep that in mind.  Good to know others have modified with at least some success.  I'll bring whatever extra blocks and hardware I have available with my first couple outings and experiment to see what works best.

[alsantini]

Cool on the new boat.  You will love her, I hope....

I have modified my mainsheet for dual purpose.  I have the factory set-up which works great with the Bimini up or 2 people in the cockpit.  But I changed out the block at the traveler and added one that has a cam cleat.  If I have additional people in the cockpit I pull the sheet out of the factory set-up, so it drops to the cockpit directly under the boom gallows.  Tough but not impossible to use the Bimini.  The majority of my sailing is alone or with 1 crew and for these conditions the factory set-up suits me fine.
I have lots of pics on modifications if you are interested in them.  Just PM me with e mail address.
Sail On and welcome.  BTW consider CLR in Southern Illinois last week in June.  Great group.  Lots of Com Pacs.
Al

[Eagleye]

Welcome and congrats slode from myself and Madame Z, Sylvia's younger sister # 42.  We live in upstate NY where we do most of our sailing but we also have spent some time sailing in NJ.  I'm sure you will enjoy your Eclipse. 
I like the original main sheat setup as it keeps all the lines running from forward.   It is rare that we have a big enough of a crowd in the cockpit to make it a problem.  I did upgrade the Spinlok cam cleat to one with a swivel base to so when I'm sitting on the port side it locks and releases easier.  This is more critical in heavy winds.
Best of Luck to You.
-Allen

[slode]

Welcome and congrats slode from myself and Madame Z, Sylvia's younger sister # 42.  We live in upstate NY where we do most of our sailing but we also have spent some time sailing in NJ.  I'm sure you will enjoy your Eclipse. 
I like the original main sheat setup as it keeps all the lines running from forward.   It is rare that we have a big enough of a crowd in the cockpit to make it a problem.  I did upgrade the Spinlok cam cleat to one with a swivel base to so when I'm sitting on the port side it locks and releases easier.  This is more critical in heavy winds.
Best of Luck to You.
-Allen

Thanks Allen.  I think I figured out a setup that will work well for me.  Al helped with confirming the hardware.  It keeps the factory setup replacing the block on the traveler with a fiddle block with cleat.  Each end of the sheet can be cleated and you just leave the unused end cleated towards the end of the line.  I'll post pics in the spring if it works well. 

Scott