I can't really picture your problem here. When you're going downwind, the sheet shouldn't cleat by itself as you're pulling it constantly upward. And when gybing, you might actually want to cleat it so you don't lose it and cause a death roll by having the sail go too far forward!the first time I used it it caught the cleat on a jibe going down wind and wound up putting me into a death roll of shame. How do you guys prevent it catching when you don't want it to?
It's the original Sunfish "ratchet", meant to be used with no other fittings, with the sheet coming to it directly from the boom.what is that little metal hook on the rim of the cockpit for? Is that so that supposed to be so you can relieve pressure on your hands when using the original ratchet?
Not a big enough effect. Your body position would be a factor only if you had your whole sheeting arm at or below the cleating level, that is, you were hiking nearly horizontally. Always pull the sheet (or any line for that matter) towards your shoulder; it's the easiest for your muscles. Going downwind and sitting normally, the sheet should touch the cleat-top fairlead all the time. That said, you might want to bend the cleat arm a bit downward, mainly for easier uncleating upwind. The optimal angle would be such that the sheet just barely fully drops into the cleat when pulled athwartships against the gunwale.Maybe I'm sitting too far back so that the angle is to shallow?
Howdy, I wouldn't mind this arrangement, but do you have to drill new holes or does one of the cleats line up perfectly with the pre-existing homes?I agree with Beldar the Conehead. put the ratchet block back on and replace the hook with a cam cleat. with it positioned as I've shown, you really can't cleat (easily) while hiking out, but if you're drifting along in a light breeze, it's easy enough to cleat the line while you reposition, grab a drink, etc.
oh, and add the stand up spring (I did... just not for the photo I'm adding)
View attachment 31067
Thanks, I like that setup. I just want to cleat off in a light wind.I don't think the Harken 150 cam cleat holes line up exactly with the hook holes, but it was probably close. either way, it's on the cockpit lip, so easy to access the back side to put a washer and a nut. and any hole, or slot than ends up there due to existing holes, will be covered up by the cam cleat base.
this is my setup on a Minifish - it gives you all the relevant part numbers:
Here's what one Sunfish looks like with side cleats. (Click on the "Clam" cleats, here and scroll down).In my opinion those center cleats are recipes for capsizes. I’d put the ratchet back on and put on side deck cleats Your boat looks likes it’s from the 80s so at 30 plus years what’s another couple holes? If you don’t want to do that I’d bend the cleat down (which is no easy task) to make it harder to cleat and easier to uncleat. .
Clamcleats are ok for control lines but no good for sheets. "Sticky" and hard to release fast."Clam" cleats, here and scroll down