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I have four double rope clutches on the coach roof ( 2 each side ), all are by " easylock ", and as Marcus from Carriden urges, they are staggered to make servicing them relatively easy. I suspect that they are all at the end of their lives as they require some wriggling to pursade them to lock on the line. So now I need to bring them back to life before we launch next year.
Does anyone else have this brand of clutch, and if yes then are the refurbishing kits offered by a Florida Company the answer? If possible I would prefer to stay with the "easylock" units.
Any help will be welcome. Thanks.
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Greetings. Replacement clutches can be found at Holland Marine products. The originals are still listed in their catalogue but whether or not they are available will require a phone call. Also I understand that there are much better clutches available that don't bind when locking a static line.
Brent Driedger
S/V Wild Rover
C&C 27 MkV #15
Brent Driedger
S/V Wild Rover
C&C 27 MkV #15
;
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Alen:
Glad to hear the Smoke is alive and well and back on Lake Ontario, you've got yourself one heck of a good boat there, as Jim W. said earlier in a post Smoke is reputadely the fastest Mark V ever built.
I know a guy by the name of Jamie Ford, used to sail out of our club EYC a number of years ago. Are you any relation of his?
As for the Rope Clutches I'd recommend going with new and I'd go with Spinnlock if I was replacing them. I have Spinnlocks on Still Knot working, although they are not the current version, but they work great, no need to open them to pull the haylards up, you only need to open them to release and I have had no problems with them holding.
Steve Reid
Still Knot Working Mark V # 75
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Thanks Brent, I went to Holland Marine and spoke to Peter, and believe I will convert to Spinlock instead of persisting with the 'easylock' units.
Good Winter project under the cover............
Cheers
Alan
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Hi Steve
Yes, guilty as charged..I'm Jamie's dad. He had a Dufour 36 at EYC, then kids arrived and the boat was idle so he sold it. Now those kids are 5 and 7 and Jamie and Lisa his wife are wanting to get back on the water.......
Thanks for the pressure from you and Jim W, !!!!!!.............fastest Mk V etc etc, how do I live up to that high bar?????
The spacing of the mounting bolts on the 'easylock' clutches is not the same as 'Spinlock' ones. Are your clutches replacements of the original (easylock) ones do you know? With simple access to the underside of the clutches and winches ( 4 in my case) I hope that it will mean only drilling two new holes for each double clutch. I'll now start a hunt for the Spinlock units as time is on my side......SMOKE comes out of the water tomorrow.
Thanks again and cheers
Alan
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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We installed triple Spinlocks last spring. Great so far. See a recent Practical Sailor for a review of rope clutches. Spinlock came out OK. They all have compromises.
Installation was interesting -- the bolts on one end are tricky to insert. Lift the levers all the way up while holding the inside piece to get it out of the way. Hard to explain. Even then they have to be wiggled in. Unless there is a better way to do it that I could not discover in my research -- maybe someone can chime in.
The hole template did not match the holes in the unit, so I had to carefully find the holes a different way. I could not find M8 stainless bolts so used 1/4" Had to ream a few of the holes gently to accept 1/4", which is a hair larger than M8. (I think those are the bolt sizes - don't have the insert handy to check).
I positioned the clutch unit on the deck using the halyards for line angles. Then drilled the first hole through outer skin and into core but not inner skin, and inserted a bolt in to hold to the unit, then drilled another hole, etc. When done, I reamed out the core in each hole using a cut-off allen wrench in a dremmel, then potted with hardened epoxy and when that set repeated the drilling procedure for the final holes. Countersunk the holes, then packed the bolts with butyl tape above and below the clutch lower surface and inserted the works into the 6 holes. Put Tef-Gel on the bolt threads for the nylon nuts and tightened them down. Backed with stainless fender washers. Retightened the bolts a couple of weeks later.
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1974 Mark II C&C 27
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1974 Mark II C&C 27
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Thanks for that guidance. What Mark do you have please? I will study (again) the mounting area on my Mk V and be prepared.
Alan
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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If the holes are not in the right place for the new clutches, fill with epoxey and redrill.
When drilling new holes 1) drill 2) remove the balsa core for 1" surronding the hole. Its easy to do on a MKV since you access from underneath. Drill a hole the size of the bolt, then get the balsa out over a larger diameter. with a dremmel and a vacumn cleaner. 3) fill with epoxy 4) redrill the bolt holes.
Pay attention to the directions on the clutches - they advise a silicone sealant, not polyurethane - so don't use 4200.
I did two clutches that way this year - it's quite easy to do, and you will not have any worries about rotting deck core.
JIM
[A minor point of difference - don't drill all the way through at first. Drill down until your bit just touches the lower surface of the laminate, not through. Then clear out balsa and fill with epoxy. At that point, drill all the way through. A lot less fuss and mess. See Black Arts and the entry on deck tracks for the full story. - Admin]
Last edited by (2009-10-24 08:34:36)
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I pulled the easylock clutches from the deck of Wild Rover last spring and waterproofed the holes as per the standard practice. The trick to the epoxy port of the job is getting it into the hole without any air bubbles. I wet the interior of the hole with neat epoxy, thickened the rest of the batch slightly with high density filler and very slowly drizzled it into the hole using a pencil dipped into the epoxy then allowed to run off. It worked well. When I put the clutches back on I used butyl tape to seal the screws. I'm a huge believer in the stuff. It will not attack plastic and it maintains a seal as long as there is compression... perhaps forever? I'm also a believer in removing all your deck hardware and doing this to any hole that penetrates the balsa core. With high cyclic loads on the fittings plus expansion and contraction from summer to winter etc, all the fittings factory installed are just waiting to start rotting your core. I call BS to anyone who insists that sailboat interiors are always leaky and wet and should be excepted as such. Mine was when I bought her but after a long spring of hardware, toe-rail and porthole re-bedding I now have a dry boat. Water is the enemy!
Brent Driedger
S/V Wild Rover
C&C 27 MkV #15
Brent Driedger
S/V Wild Rover
C&C 27 MkV #15
;
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Again thanks for all your help with my rope clutch problem.
A quick update. I went to Holland Marine again and now have 4 Spinlock XAS0612 doubles. My Easylocks will have a new life in a friend's garage holding his family's bicycles near the ceiling..........good re-cycling ( sorry).
The bolts ( screws in some stores) are M6 countersunk, and unless someone shouts at me I will use the Phillips head units rather than the ones which have Allen key or slot heads.
I told Peter at Holland about the template spacing disagreeing with the actual bolt spacing and he was incredulous..........got out a measuring thing, checked it and said he would tell his supplier to "get the fact M'am, and get them right"
I suppose we should not be too amazed as they are made in a country which loves inches, feet, yards, miles, pints ( OK, that's acceptable), furlongs, acres, cubits, ounces, teaspoons, cups, in fact we love our 27's..........
Hopefully I'll meet you at 12:30 Newfoundland time tomorrow amidst the vines.
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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I finally managed to remove the 'easylock' clutches and was faced with a prototype puzzle.....The aftermost ones on each side were mounted on solid fibreglass, about 9 mm thick, and the forward ones on each side were mounted on a fibreglass / 1/2 inch plywood / fibreglass sandwich. All were attached with 1/4 inch countersunk bolts, 1.5 inches long, and with miserable wee washers and standard nuts. The plywood is both hard and dry.
The new Spinlocks have totally different mounting bolt spacing, so I intend to slightly countersink both ends of the present holes and fill them with epoxy, which hopefully will prevent them popping out. I'll then start anew with the Spinlock spacing, plenty of butyl tape, correct silicone bedding and large ( fender? ) washers to spread the load. The Spinlock footprint is larger than that of the easylock units.
It is amazing that the original mounting lasted 25 years, with no sign of water ingress or movement, but from the input of other Mk V's it appears that C&C decided to go the balsa-core route once they had a production line in operation.
Any comments would be most welcome
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Hi Alan:
Good choice going with the spinlocks, they work great and don't eat your lines.
Don't know if I'd go with the idea of countersinking top and bottom of each of the old holes, if you get the area clean the epoxy should old just fine.
I'm not a big fan of silicone, much prefer 4200, the problem with silicone is that once you have used it nothing else will stick to the area and it's a bitch to remove any trace of the stuff if you ever have to do any gelcoat repair or painting. 4200 never dries out, hardens or cracks and it can be cleaned up or removes quite easily.
Steve
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Thanks Steve, but I'm told that 4200 contains polyurethane, which Spinlock warns us NOT to use. Jim W brought this item to my attention in an earlier part of this thread, and there is a little sticker on the bottom of each clutch to be sure we don't use the wrong type of adhesive.
That seems to lead us to silicone?
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Brent, when you installed your Spinlocks using butyl tape around the bolts, did you use anything else to bed the clutches on to their mounting location? I have just come back from Holland Marine Products and they said don't use silicone, or anything else, just the butyl tape around the bolts, tighten them down firmly, then another turn after a few days. Sounds OK to me, is that what you did please?
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Hey Alan,
I use nothing but butyl tape for bedding all of my deck hardware. Never had a leak since.
Marcus from Carriden
Mk III, Hull #847
Oakville, Ontario
Marcus Opitz,
Formerly from Carriden, Mk III, Hull #847,
now skippering "Everdina," a 1975 Ontario 32
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I'll follow your lead Marcus, thanks.
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Anybody with a spare plastic handle for an Easylock to sell me?
Allan
Cygnus
C&C 27 Hull 518
Allan
Cygnus
C&C 27 Hull 518
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Allan, I just saw you request for an easylock handle and I think I can help you.
I have recently changed my easylock units for Spinlocks, and still have one complete ( elderly ) double easylock rope clutch which needs a new home. I will be able to send it in your direction next Tuesday, April 6th, as my son, who lives in Beaconsfield, is visiting us in Toronto over the Easter weekend. You will have to wrestle it apart and check if the handles are the ones you need, but it is the right age so might be OK.
You and he can work out the handover place and time once it's in QC., but you live not far apart I suspect, so that should be easy.
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Just picked it up from your son.
Took them apart and looks like they are in better shape then mine.
Thanks.
Allan
Allan
Cygnus
C&C 27 Hull 518
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I'd be happy to take some off your hands. Send me a note for the address details etc.
brentmd%highspeedcrow.caaaaaaaaa
Brent Driedger
S/V Wild Rover
C&C 27 MkV #15
Brent Driedger
S/V Wild Rover
C&C 27 MkV #15
;
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Thanks Alan.
The handle has been installed and now a part of your boat is now in Montreal.
Thanks
Allan
Allan
Cygnus
C&C 27 Hull 518
Allan
Cygnus
C&C 27 Hull 518
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That's great Allan, hope it makes a ton of extra speed!!!!
Cheers
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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It worked exactly as you all advised, so thanks to all who guided me. I removed the easylocks, filled the old holes and drilled for the new Spinlocks, but about 1 inch further forward to avoid having to drill through the filled holes. Bedded the new bolts ( 1/4 inch CS)using butyl tape. The large fender washers would have overlapped slightly, so ground them a touch to have a flush fit under the nuts. Finally gave them all a second and firmer tightening after 2 weeks, and the whole project works like a dream. Great!!
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
Alan of SMOKE 1984 Mk V 002
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Any extra Easylock handles still out there? Eventually want to replace with new Spinlock clutches so not interested in dropping $50 for a new handle...
Thanks ahead of time,
Joshua C. Harper
License To Keel, Mk V
Atlanta, GA
Joshua C. Harper
License To Keel, Mk V
Atlanta, GA
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