Deck hardware

Another important element to get right was the positioning of the new deck hardware – especially given the boat’s steel construction. It was very much a matter of think three times, drill once.

Much of the original kit had been fitted to raised plinths, so it made sense to fit the replacements to these where possible. Besides, reaching the underside of the wheelhouse if through-bolting the hardware would involve a lot of work removing and refitting the timber headlining, and it was questionable whether the steel of the roof was thick enough to tap into with machine screws.

Winches and leads

The owner found a second-hand pair of Lewmar 52 self-tailers for the primary winches, which fitted neatly to the original plinths. As the plinth on which the three horn cleats had been mounted was directly in a line between the genoa sheet’s foot block and the winch (with enough scope to accept the handing of the winches to port and starboard) it worked perfectly to fit the new genoa-sheet clutch here.

With the horn cleats removed, we bought a triple bank of clutches each side for the other lines that were led aft. The question was how to align them. One option was to run the lines through deck organisers first and then angle the clutches so the lines could be taken to the primary winches – which might be necessary for reefing or furling the headsails in strong winds. Alternatively, we could simply align the clutches fore-and-aft so the lines would be easier to pull from the cockpit most of the time when winching wasn’t necessary. To allow them to be led to the winch, we would fit a Spinlock Winchfeeder right aft on the coachroof. After mocking up both layouts and considering the options, we chose the latter.

That’s better! Self-tailing Lewmar 52s have replaced the old winches; a clutch can be used to jam the sheet and free up the leeward winch if necessary; a bank of three clutches handles the staysail lines (on the port side it’s the yankee/genoa), and a...

Paul and Mark Lees from Crusader Sails fitting the replacement winches

LEFT We considered leading the lines aft through deck organisers so they could easily be taken to the primary winches. The problem was that they would be hard to pull from the cockpit because of the angle…

ABOVE …so we opted to lead them straight aft (deck organisers not needed) so they would be easier to control most of the time