Hey all,

I've just returned from an eight day adventure of projects and sailing aboard our W32. One of the things I have wanted to address for a while is the poor lead of the stays'l sheets to their winches. We were constantly having issues with overrides due to the sheet lead being too high, which is due to my choice of using a lizard-style lashing for the stays'l sheet's lead to the clew. As I do not want to mount a T-track to the cabin top, the only options for solving the over rides was to mount a fairlead very near the winch, or to create cast winch bases.

We opted for the bases, and created them exactly as is directed in the West System's Gudeons Brothers' manual. Here are some photos:

Casting the bases

Starboard winch installed

Starboard winch again

Both winches

In use

Our stays'l "track"

"Track" in use

After sailing with them, I'm very pleased. No overrides and they look pretty good.

Happy sailing!
Aaron