Plastic Classic Forum

I have just removed the self tailing winches from Paper Moon (and the pads and the coamings in preparation for painting the cockpit) The self tailing guide that leads the line into the two plates and strips it out (I do not know the nautical name) for the starboard winch was directly inboard while the port was directly aft. Does anyone know if there is a correct orientation such as "This is correct" or that they should both face outboard or both face aft? I have been on plenty of boats that have self tailers but have never paid sufficient attention to see which way the guide was oriented. It is a matter of 1) maximizing the contact with the two self tailer plates on top of the drum and 2) getting the line to peel off into the cockpit. This has never been a problem which is why without a definitive reason t change, I will go back to the way it was but things on the forum seem a bit slow these days so I decided to get a few "opinions."

Lewmar is suggesting that the stripper face around 7:00, as you face the winch.

I used to think 5:00, but the Lewmar photos make sense to me.

Tim,

Thanks - That makes sense.

Pardon my ignorance, but I'll soon be in the same situation scratching my head.

It seems like you'd want it at 5:00 on port and 7:00 on starboard to strip into the cockpit.

And bottom Lewmar pic must be from Down Under.

hmmm. All I read is "The winch must be mounted such that the loose sheet falls correctly into a secure stowage position". A perfectly nonspecific punt of an instruction which roughly translates to "mount it however you like, but don't come crying to us if you foul it all up because you failed to apply a minimum dose of common sense".

I think the photo angles are shown primarily for graphic clarity on the wrap. A 5:00 photo would be a bit obscure on the "up and over the thumb of the stripper" part of the wrap.

I tend to err on the earlier rather than later (since we're using clock references) side because the tail is less exposed to the cockpit, and less likely to get brushed out of the jaws. This is only really an issue when people don't lay enough wraps on the drum before going to the selftailer, BUT it's my observation that people accustomed to having selftailers habitually under-wrap their winches.

Our vertically-oriented strippers are at 7:00 as you face them from where you'd be working. My horizontally-oriented ones are such that they dump the stripped line downwards.

I'm boneheaded enough to give the winch barrel a little twist nearly every time I load one. Sheesh!

As for the comment re: number of turns: two is fine in light air, three just right, and four will reward me with overrides. But four in heavy air is OK if you're paying attention and not trying to make a racer's tack.