- works well with special slippery downhaul rope from WS&S. 
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
i just wrap the downhaul rope around my hand and then apply downhaul with a bicep-curl type action. You get all the tension you need! Only problem is it is a little easy to over tension and snap the rope! Thinking about upgrading the downhaul rope to a 4mm braided stainless steel cable to rectify the problem.
been using the crank tool made locally and in one rigging broke 2 ropes
only 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..
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
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!!
I've made a couple but my last effort is a beauty .
I took a section of old mast extension ,drilled a hole ,took an old sidcrome ratchet spanner and a 10" extension ,drilled a small hole in the end to fit the rope ,inserted a piece of copper pipe into the hole drilled in the old mast extension as a bearing ,and then put the sidcrome extension thru and like magic, a downaul tool .Damn I'm just so cheap!
Looks like everyone missed the most important post in this string!
It was from Puffin in the US of A!!
Marlow Formuline [3.8 mm Spectra braid] is by far the best downhaul line in the world. Sure it costs a bit but I have one 1.5m downhaul that I have been using since August and there are very slight signs of wear (I have sailed quite a bit since August 07). When the cleat area looks really worn I'll end for end it and use the 'new' end in the cleat area. This stuff is so slipopery through the pulleys you will not believe it, but it sticks in cleat like you know what!
The weave is excetionally tight and apparently the cross section does not flatten much as it goes around the pulleys. I used to have to crank my KA Koncepts but with this stuff I can do it by hand or at worst use the harness hook for a minor pull!
I used to use Marlow pre stretched 4mm. I would be lucky to get 10 sessions out of after using the crank.
Surf Sail Australia has it - pre cut from Streamline - its $13 for 1.5m but my word its worth it - no tools no sore backs - get it today!!!http://www.surfsailaustralia.com.au/showProduct/Windsurfing+-+Accessories/Ropes/416148/Ultra+Formula+Line
so that one too 25i think spectra which np has is around 1.50$ per meter? but it is the "toughest" one out there for abrasions and nicks where rope breaks tend to happen on a crank
i would presume this is the kind they use for kite lines
here's another tough one to adjust and am thinking on what to add to the crank to set properly the luff length..as soon as you're down cranking i tend to over do the settings by at least 3cm's so as you let go of the crank to cleat it there's a loss of about that much and should be fine..do you mates do the same thing? it is quite hard on the fingers to push the line to the cleat if you are using a different mast base extension[}:)]
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.
