Above Decks

For a performance yacht it is really important to make the deck work for you.

All of the lines are brought back to the cockpit, with the exception of an unused 3rd reefing line. We have been able to accommodate this because we upgraded the clutches to take 6 lines either side of the companion way. With all this string brought back (there's lots of it because of the tall mast) you could end up with a really good knot. Most of the pictures of an Elan 333 (and many other boats) show the boat in "show boat" configuration, with the ropes looped neatly over the coachroof winches (very expensive hooks!).

Top tip: Using a piece of 4mm line and a few plastic hooks, I made a rope tidy, so that each of the lines brought back can be hooked up individually. The loops lie on the side of the coachroof and generally are secure and out of the way yet reachable by crew in the cockpit.

Rope tidy

	Our pole downhaul and vang are single ended. We have seen double ended arrangements on some Elan 333's.
	The standard mainsheet is short of enough horsepower, in particular gybing the big main in a F6 where the full main can still be carried downwind is a receipe for rope burns. We have added a couple of blocks and taken the tail back up the boom, down the mast and back to a winch via a clutch. This gives us a standard 5:1 from the track and simultaneously allows us to trim on the winch if necessary. Ironically, the 5:1 makes the world of difference so the winch approach is rarely used.
	The genoa tracks are towable, and with lockable spinlock turning blocks, we can still use the winch to move the track under load if needed. Most times, sweating the towing line is enough. Occasionally, the spinlocks will slip a bit on the genoa sheet.

Elan 333 deck layout

The main winches in standard specification are 40's. These can be quite hard work. For a less physical crew an upgrade to 44's would be useful.

Above Decks

Last modified: May 05, 2004