I made a crank, best thing ever. In the middle of winter, after youve been out for a couple of hours and the wind really picks up and youve got no feeling left in your fingers, you can pull on an extra inch of downhaul. Also when you are downhauling with a winch on a normal day you can be watching the leech and mast rather than squintinting and straining and hoping you don't pop a haemorroid.

I second the Ezzy knot! Couldn't be simpler.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=30756

Sorry photo wasent attached its in the photo section.

Hydropuller ???

been using the crank tool made locally and in one rigging broke 2 ropesonly to figure out the hole on the lever was drilled correctly but wasn't 'chamferred' as not to nick the lines[}:)]so now it's sanded down conically and should work out fine..i noticed as you reach the prescribed luff length the last cm.'s tend to be the hardest without tool i guess it gets closer to the extension and gets pinched quite a bit..

Don't be a moron. Use a crank. So many people do their backs in one way or another; why add to the risk? If the rope snaps, or pulls through in a jerky motion, it can really hurt your lower back.

jp747 how did you get your crank made? Did you have some specs to show the guy or what? The ones I can buy in Singapore are like $70 or something; I'd rather get one made cheap if possible!!

steve o said...

JP747...Just make sure that you have the down haul rope threaded corectly...and yes the last one or two Cm's are critical to sail preformance and inevitably your comfort on the water... this is where i see the down fall in the broom stick types when you just want to make a small adjustment (one or two cms more down haul)...Good luck Steve O

hey stevie i make sure that i get a couple of loops on the lever before cranking to make sure no nicks on the lines..Wetty, i brought the machinist a pic of a chinook crank tool and told him to follow using stainless tubing not solid and brought along a mastfoot so he could measure the little "dong" that goes into the extension..lever was 1/2"ss and hole for threading 5mm..i had him make a circular plate on top of the tube that will hold the dong..works a real treat and just as smooth as the original from a windsurf station..don't worry if you want a pic let me know i will take a pic and send it to you

so that one too 25i think spectra which np has is around 1.50$ per meter? but it is the "toughest" one out there for abrasions and nicks where rope breaks tend to happen on a cranki would presume this is the kind they use for kite lines

I have to STRONGLY agree with 25. Today whilst rigging my RS4 6.7 using a crank I snapped my downhaul rope. I only lost about 30cm so no major drama but there were other spots of wear so I decided to use the brand new piece of Marlow Formuline I had in my kit. This stuff is so slippery I physically couldn't wrap it around my hand to pull the initial bit of downhaul on without it slipping through my fingers. I grabbed a small piece of dowel that I used before I got my crank so I could get enough line through the downhaul cleat to then switch over to the crank and bugger me if I didn't then crank it on, by hand, MORE than I have ever been able to comfortably do with the crank. This rope is quite amazing. NEVER has such a small piece of gear made SUCH a difference to my rigging and enjoyment. I dreaded using that crank, I was always waiting for either it or my mast or extension to snap due to enormous pressure it puts itself under. Well thankfully it looks like that is all in the past now. Do yourselves a favour, go get some of this line, you won't regret it.