Repair & maintenance: kicker take off point

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kicker take off point

Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: General
Forum Name: Repair & maintenance
Forum Discription: Questions & tips on the subject
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6855
Printed Date: 15 May 25 at 3:48am
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Topic: kicker take off point

Posted By: winging it
Subject: kicker take off point
Date Posted: 21 Jun 10 at 8:15pm

I have been fitting out my latest purchase (a French thing from France) and have realised there is no take off point for the kicker from the mast. there is no sign of such a thing ever having been on the mast (no holes) so I assume it must have come off the mast step. I'm reluctant to do this because it's such an olde boate....so is there a 'best place' to site a strop on the mast to take the kicker to? it won't be a fabulously powerful multi purchase thing, but it will be a step up from the basci v jammer that came with the boat.

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the same, but different...

Replies:

Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 21 Jun 10 at 8:33pm

The golden rule is the lower the better.

The steeper the angle of the kicker then the less the load you need in the kicker to put a given tension in the leech, so the lower the loads on the boat. Limiting factors are of course clearance for centreboard/daggerboard and other structures.

Posted By: MerlinMags
Date Posted: 21 Jun 10 at 9:35pm

Choose a very strong point on the hull. Kicker loads are massive. You need bolts, not screws.

Posted By: Noah
Date Posted: 25 Jun 10 at 2:02pm

I ran the kicker off the alloy cast mast step on my last fireball for 5 years without incident. Saved disconnecting it every time the mast came down for transport...

Because the rig is effectively trying to push the mast through the bottom of the boat anyway, it doesn't need vast fixings - only enough to keep it in place. I'd have no issues taking the kicker off the mast step - as close to the heel as you can get.

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Nick
D-Zero 316

Posted By: Andymac
Date Posted: 25 Jun 10 at 2:40pm

Originally posted by winging it

I have been fitting out my latest purchase (a French thing from France)

OMG, what have you got now?

Bear in mind the angle that the kicker will take, and whether it could foul any of the bodywork of the boat i.e. the front of centreboard housing.