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Mainsheet twist

sharonov

Member II
The mainsheet is doing its best to twist itself and that creates a lot of extra friction. And that mainsheet winch is not that powerful to begin with..
20190902_185436_compressed.jpg

To untwist I pull the line out and stretch it along the dock. After a daysail it is back to its twisted self. Rather annoying. Has anybody seen this problem and what to do about it?
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
back to its twisted self. Rather annoying. Has anybody seen this problem and what to do about it?

Blame the winch.

When you put wraps on a winch drum, the non-load side of the tail picks up some twist. And, later, when you ease or release the line, that twist makes it "upstream" into the blocks.

No real way to prevent it, that I know of. It's the same gremlin that causes jibsheet and spinnaker-sheet tails to become a twisty mess on the floor of the cockpit.

B
 

RenDe

Member II
Rerun the line

If your mainsheet is in otherwise good condition then swapping ends will undo that, for a while.
 

sharonov

Member II
let it drag in the water while underway.
Hmm.. initially sounded like a good idea. However if I am underway and sailing, it is in use, if motoring i would not like it near my prop. Maybe just put it through washing machine? In a bag, of course.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Just pull sheet out of blocks and twist the twist out. Try hand coiling it the “wrong way”. Perhaps your boom blocks are lockable, which resists the phenom a bit. otherwise this is periodic necessity.
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
I made my main sheet lockable, as Christian suggests above, by putting a black zip tie through it to keep the block from swivelling. It's an easy, inexpensive fix.
Frank
 

gabriel

Live free or die hard
Hmm.. initially sounded like a good idea. However if I am underway and sailing, it is in use, if motoring i would not like it near my prop. Maybe just put it through washing machine? In a bag, of course.


not it all the time, just to get the twist out.
 

sharonov

Member II
I made my main sheet lockable, as Christian suggests above, by putting a black zip tie through it to keep the block from swivelling. It's an easy, inexpensive fix.
Frank
Thank you. This sounds like the way to go. This and may be swap end for end as was suggested by RenDe. I was afraid I was doing something silly but looks like everybody else is getting the same problem and quietly suffers.
 
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