It's official: Harken clew hook is

C

Chainsaw

Brmmm Brmmm
off chainsaw’s list of approved fail safe products. :eek:

oh my lord... why chainsaw why? :confused:

because it let go this afternoon in 20knots while reaching. Bang! Just like that.

My guess is that the more load you apply to these hooks the higher the chance if them popping off. It always did make a funny twisting shape when under load, but I ignored it, telling myself that hundreds of others use these hooks...it must be safe.

The other factor may be that while reaching, with the outhaul slackened off, there is the opportunity for the line to “bounce”, instead of pulling tightly in a straight line when close hauled. Anyway I don’t care, one impromptu laser spinnaker session is enough. Lucky I don’t sail offshore winds or I’d have been in real trouble. Will figure out a way to use knots to tie the clew instead. May not be such of an issue if the hook is combined with the new clew slide. The sleeve may stop the hook from bouncing and twisting.
 
Go get an SEA velcro strap, whip a small block to the clew of the sail, and run the outhaul primary through the boom fairlead, the small block on the clew, and then make it off to the boom fairlead with an Aussie bowline.

Good to go - simple, quick efficient, secure. If you're concerned about letting the sail go for a downwind landing, just undo the mainsheet knot.
 
This may have nothing to do with why yours failed>>>


According to the inventor, we were using ours backwards when my firend's let go. Mine worked in spite of the improper rigging. It is much more secure when turned the right way.
 
YEah i checked myself for the the "idiot factor" but yes it was the right way round. After spending all day on a solution I've used a swivelled ronstan 16mm block that comes with a tiny wee shackle which I put with the smallest snap hook I could find. I originally was using the snap hook, but it's not all that easy to release quickly. Still, it's a lot faster than a knot I guess.
 
Ross B said:
careful ...
Merrily might be watching...
Click to expand...


55103619.JPG
 
Dear Chainsaw,
The hook on the new Harken clew sleeve fitting is new, different from the
old tie on model you were using and much more secure.

JC
 
Dear Mr. Christians,

Your suggestion is a good one: find an unsuspecting 4.7 owner and swap their new sleeve hook for my old harken hook. I'll name this technique the "Christians Swapover".

Regards,
Chainsaw
 
May defeat the 'easy on/of' aspects - but if you want to retain the good glide of the SS sleeve with security of a tied line why not add the latter??? i.e. rig as intended with the sleeve and hook - but then tie a a suitable thin diameter lo stretch line thru the clew and around the sleeve.

Probably a 'belt and braces' approach, but could give the old school security without loosing the new non-binding slide characteristices of the sleeve. The hook would then simply hold the sleeve within the line.
 
A: anything else besides a hook doesn't let you quick-release. Shackles, ties, whatever, they defeat the purpose of just "pop"- half a second.

B: Can someone post a picture of the correct rigging of the hook, because now that you mention it I don't know if mine is rigged correctly.

C: My hook fell off once as well, and I fixed it by squeezing it together with pliers. Haven't had trouble since.
 
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