Does anybody use spinlocks on their boat? Over the past couple of years I have bought two used boats with spinlocks in various places: (a) an I-17R with spinlocks on the spin halyard and mast rotation lines and (b) a Boyer Mk 4 with a spinlock on the traveler sheet. In both cases I would have preferred a normal cam cleat. Why do people like spinlocks over cam cleats?

We used them on the 18HT for the spinnaker halyard. I believe WF liked them because they released easier.

I've thought about the Spinlock application for the A-Class traveller cleat because I thought it would be easier to set at a leeward mark rounding. What's your experience on your Mk. IV?

Bob Hodges

I use one on my main on the Hobie 17 and we use them on the backstay on the First 36.7. Seem to work great.

Doug

My Taipan F16 has a spinlock for the spin halyard--I've been wanting to change it out for a standard camcleat for two reasons:

1. Sometime it just don't catch and hold--not fun when you're hoisting singlehandedly.
2. The angle you're holding the line has to be just right to open/close it.

As a final point, I think they are rediculously expensive for what they do.

I also had one on my spin halyard. My crew would hoist and the thing would not be up all the way. I thought it was the crew. So I tried it and sure enough, the lock was not holding about half the time. When I got it home for a closer look, I noticed it was broken. The outer shell was cracked underneath the little pin that the whole thing pivots about, which was impossible to see from above, only if you got your face right down on the tramp and put some pressure on it would you see the crack open up. So I bought a new one.

Then it worked fine for the hoists but on the release, if the halyard got hung up anywhere on the tramp, causing the line to tighten, it would lock it down again. NOT a good situation when you are pulling hard on the snuffer line trying to get the spin snuffed and rounding a mark! I had to uncleat it sevral times while the crew pulled the snuffer line and we had to be very careful not to trap the halyard during the douse or it would cleat agian. I finally removed it. I think a simple cam cleat is best for the spin halyard.

I've had 2 spinlocks blow up on me while racing...I'll never use one again.

Trey check your private messages please.

THIS showed up at my West Marine last week... looks tempting as a spinny halyard cleat.

I have heard people complain about the durability - I have used them on OPBs several times, but never owned a boat with one, so I can't comment on performance over time.

Harken is working on something new along the same lines - I'm excited to see what they have come up with.

At first I got all excited about Spinlock and put one on my Main Sheet System. Big mistake -- there is no perfect setting for cleating and releasing. You can get it in a position to cleat, but you have to raise your arm too high to release it.
And worse, it slips. I would sheet the main in tight and the next thing I knew the mainsheet was easing out.
Put it in my junkbox.
Rick

I met with Spinlock last fall after we had a rash of them slipping at the F18 NA's in October. I gave them mine that were new, but slipping. They've come back with the PXR series - alloy top and bottom plates, and more aggressive teeth on top and bottom. While testing them, I've found that they are easier to release under high loads than a traditional cam cleat. This makes them ideal for spin halyard and downhaul applications. However for lines that are constantly adjusted, i.e. main and jib sheets, I think the cam cleats still do a better job.

That's just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Kudo's to Spinlock for listening to me, and making mods based our experience with their product.

Rick:

I have a 7 to 1 on main and have had no problems. Maybe I am just lucky?

Doug

I put a big spinlock on the HT travelor. The only time you need to ease the travelor was when it was really windy and a traditional cam cleat wouldnt release since it was already all the way in and I couldnt get it uncleated from the wire. So I went to a spinlock cleat, it unlocked easily, but the angle wasnt right, so then I couldnt get it locked back in again.

Still not perfect, but once I get the angle right I think it will be an improvement.

I've also got the smaller spin lock on mast for the halyard and it works fine. Same set up the Bob mentioned. the only complaint is if you need to do a port side drop/raise, the cleat is starboard side.

I agree they seem very expensive for a cleat.

Given my poor technique my traveler experience won't apply to somebody that knows what they are doing, but I'll give it a shot.

Traveler-in works great. Traveler-out is harder: I frequently find myself releasing and recleating by reaching out and touching the cleat instead of just snapping the traveler sheet in my hand. I have sprayed liberal amounts of McLube on it.

I know that part of the problem is that my traveler cleats centerline on a spinning plate that is not rigid enough. The plate tends to depress over time and then I have to bend it back upwards. My friend's XJ has a simple cam cleat on the traveler car that I like better, but I am not sure if it is the cleat I like better or if it is just the way the cleat on my boat is installed.

On a Jeaneau 2000 (commercial copy of the mini-650's) I used a spin-lock on the spi halyard. The bloody thing wouldn't cleat as it should when I hoisted a 25 sq. mtr. super full spinnaker in 15-22 knots of wind. Bloody thing slipped as well. And the best part is that you can't see what is wrong because it is all enclosed in the neat box.

That was all I needed to know. No spin-lock will finds its way on my beachcatamaran. Especially since it is stored on the beach for 6 months getting sand and salt into everything. At club the spinlock owners fully bag and tape up their spinlocks before leaving their boats to survive on the beach till next weekend.

Cam cleats all the way for me. I found that moving the cleat up or down with spacers works really well to finetune the cleating and uncleating of cam cleats.

Wouter

I plan on using one of the smaller lever arm style spinlocks inside my mast for my stiletto 23 as a hlyd lock. It will be fitted with a trip line instead of a lever arm. I think it is a great option for a boat with reefing points. I agree though that they suck for small boat spin hlyds. The traveler seems like a good idea though.

Well, it sounds like a consensus is forming...

I've used the spinlock cleat for spinny halyard (3 regatta's) & tack lines (~4 years). We blew up 2 units on the halyard at the OCR & NA's this past two weeks...luckily this didn't coast us a race.

Discussing with Robbie Daniel , we learned he also had similar problems. Seems the high loading of the cleat (halyard line on a Tornado well in excess of the ~300lbs SWL rating!!) coupled with how we normally released it by pulling the line upwards, caused a shock loading on the little thin plastic shoulder of the mechanism pivot. The shoulder material just fails and the jaw is left floating inside the housing. I suspect that lifting the line upwards in the advertised way to release the spinlock, creates a momentary "purchase" effect as the high line load transfers past the jaws to the hand-held side of the line. This forces the pivot up against the shoulder with a greater than spec impact, which causes the failure.

Solution should be to manually lift the outer housing to release the cleat. This is likely why our tack line spinlock has worked fine for many years, while seeing similar line loads....it is tripped with a little release line tied to the housing.

I replaced the last failed spinlock with new PXR style as in the lin below (not the "hand-banger" mount, just the lock itself). Worked for the remaining day of races.

I tried a Spinlock on my Hobie 17 Main several years ago. Same results as Rick. Would not release easily while out on the wing. Also tended to foul with the least amount of sand. It is also now in the junk box.

Caleb Tarleton

I haven't tried them since Mike talked to them and the new version came out - but we blew up two of them (the ones with the aluminum jaws) on the F18 spinnaker halyard and have since done away with them. We never did have a problem with it slipping - they would just explode after half a season.

We've got the Spinlock for the spin halyard. Earlier in the year it slipped horribly. But our spin halyard line a bit thin. We replaced the line and have had no problems with slipping since. We have the line marked so we have a visual for when the spin is up and if the cleat is slipping.

Hearing of these blowing up sounds a little scary though - don't want that happening when it counts to have the spin up.