Homemade Cheap Downhaul Tool? - Page 2

Heka · 11th February 2008, 12:46 AM

Don't buy the GUN-one. i broke mine after a few times downhauling my severne 11,8 ssr...
Chinook's works just great though...

davide · 11th February 2008, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just get a piece of pipe, 300mm long 25,50mm thick, drill a hole through the center to the other side, then scre a clam cleat to one side. Pust down haul rope through and into cleat and pull. I have never not been able to get my sail to twist to the sail indicaters as per rigging instructions. Even with my new sailworks hucker. just my 2 cents worth.

I actually used a piece of pipe for years WITHOUT drilling any hole. All you need is a clove hitch knot (http://www.tollesburysc.co.uk/Knots/Knots_gallery.htm) and you can pull. The clove hitch takes about 1" to thread on a pipe. You just make two loops in opposite directions and slide them on the pipe ... and you are done.

Having said that ... for racing sails I use the Chinook tool ...

11th February 2008, 05:08 PM

Downhauling takes 50percent of unpleasant things in windsurfing. The next are: wet wetsuit, board tying to a car roof, searching for a shadow to put sail after sailing, carying formula board to shore thru surfbreak.
North XT mast base eliminated downhauling from that list. It completely changed downhauling. No back pains, you can downhaul sail on the water, absolute precision, no ropes driving thru the holes on sail pulley, or base.

matt12 · 11th February 2008, 05:27 PM

Yes the North XT is great .. it is just a pity that there are very few dealers that stock the replacement rope ... so really the life of the XT is limited to the life of the rope!! Very disappointing! Who knows why this is the case in Australia ... seems such a simple issue to resolve from a customers' perspective but I guess there are complex issues in the supply chain somewhere unfortunately

Ken · 11th February 2008, 10:12 PM

I might add -

I can't speak for sail brands other than Maui Sails, but their 11.0, 9.2 and 8.4 TR-3's can be down hauled without a special tool. I am an old guy with back issues, but can still down haul them. I have a downhaul crank, but haven't used it since I got the TR-3's. I hope the TR-4's are the same.

The TR-1's required a tool.

kimax · 17th February 2008, 09:50 PM

DIY: http://www.boards.co.uk/forum/forum_...14192&KW=kimax

I use it now for 1 year for wave and Gaastra GTX 10.5 m2, no problems.

steveC · 18th February 2008, 12:56 AM

Hi kimax,

You did a fine job, especially in light of the fact that it was done with very minimal tools or support fixturing. Just goes to show "where there's a will, there's a way".

sailquik · 20th February 2008, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt12

No it is US$48 on the Chinook website that Roger listed ... so it is double the price in AUD which is not a good deal so I think I can find a better price somewhere in Oz.
http://www.chinooksailing.com/web03/components.htm

The GUN tool looks very similar. Has anyone tried both to compare the quality & performance?

I have not used the 'Gun' brand downhaul winch but I have used what I believe to be an identical winch sold under a different brand name made I believe in the same factory.

There were 2 serious problems with the 'Gun Type' winch I used with Euro pin systems.

The first is that the 'pin' was far too soft and easily bent.

The second is that crank does not slide side to side so the rope must always start at a large distance from the hub. This puts a lot more side pull on an already too weak/soft 'pin' and on the base that it is inserted into.

Two easy things to re-design but AFAIK this has not been done.

The Chinook winch works very well for me.

11th February 2008, 12:46 AM	#11
Heka New Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 10	Don't buy the GUN-one. i broke mine after a few times downhauling my severne 11,8 ssr... Chinook's works just great though... Last edited by Heka; 11th February 2008 at 12:51 AM.

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11th February 2008, 05:08 PM	#13
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	Downhauling takes 50percent of unpleasant things in windsurfing. The next are: wet wetsuit, board tying to a car roof, searching for a shadow to put sail after sailing, carying formula board to shore thru surfbreak. North XT mast base eliminated downhauling from that list. It completely changed downhauling. No back pains, you can downhaul sail on the water, absolute precision, no ropes driving thru the holes on sail pulley, or base.

11th February 2008, 05:27 PM	#14
matt12 Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 47	Yes the North XT is great .. it is just a pity that there are very few dealers that stock the replacement rope ... so really the life of the XT is limited to the life of the rope!! Very disappointing! Who knows why this is the case in Australia ... seems such a simple issue to resolve from a customers' perspective but I guess there are complex issues in the supply chain somewhere unfortunately

11th February 2008, 10:12 PM	#15
Ken Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas USA Posts: 799	I might add - I can't speak for sail brands other than Maui Sails, but their 11.0, 9.2 and 8.4 TR-3's can be down hauled without a special tool. I am an old guy with back issues, but can still down haul them. I have a downhaul crank, but haven't used it since I got the TR-3's. I hope the TR-4's are the same. The TR-1's required a tool.

17th February 2008, 09:50 PM	#16
kimax Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 37	DIY: http://www.boards.co.uk/forum/forum_...14192&KW=kimax I use it now for 1 year for wave and Gaastra GTX 10.5 m2, no problems.

18th February 2008, 12:56 AM	#17
steveC Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 639	Hi kimax, You did a fine job, especially in light of the fact that it was done with very minimal tools or support fixturing. Just goes to show "where there's a will, there's a way".