ABI 192613 forestay release lever yay or nay? Looks like a POS to

[gjordan]

The fork that screws into the closed body turnbuckle could also be changed out to a swage fitting for a neater, less likely to snag unit. There isnt any need for the flexibility of the fork since there is a toggle at the bottom of the unit. I think you will determine that it is chrome bronze. Less than a year ago I saw a brand new one for sale at THE BLUE PELICAN CONSIGNMENT SHOP in Alameda Calif. 510-769-4858. They had bought out all of the ABI inventory and were sorting it out and selling. The release lever was $500 for the larger 5/8 pin size. I bought several other ABI products, but I already had a release lever with the 1/4 inch pin, which is just fine for my boat. Great piece of gear. _____Grant.

[Eastward ho 24]

That's who I got it from ebay. It's 1/2 pin. Pretty sure it's not chromed bronze but if it is I'd like to remove the chrome!

[toddster8]

Looks like mine only shinier. It’s a bit of an over-kill for a 30-foot boat, but not too monstrous. Depending on what size wire it’s going to, you may need reducing tangs or a modified eye. Gotta have the deck fitting securely connected to a bulkhead of course.

[Oohla]

I have a Wichard "Highfield Lever" and I am very happy with it. My rigger selected it. I approved of his plan to buy only the best.

Easy to adjust stay tension and it holds it.

It is very strong, but not stronger than my Harken electric winches! Easy enough to hammer back in shape.

Note to self: Gotta be careful with electric winches.

[gjordan]

Oohla, I am sure the Wichard is good gear, but the ABI was considered for years to be the top of the line. It has not been available for a long time. Eastwardho only managed to find one because it came out of a store room from ABIs left over stock. The quality (therefore expense) of ABIs gear probably means they will never go back into production. They made lots of high end gear but could not make it affordable. ____Grant.

[Eastward ho 24]

Overkill? Did yo say over kill? Ohh god let me tell you; my boats on the hard it had an 7 foot wooosen bowsprit with a 35# cqr, no windlass , and 6 foot of chain and rope rhode.....well let me tell ya i might have a lot of brand new stuff for sale here by spring, if my bow is under water after I pile all this gear up there. I got all this stuff but haven’t installed it yet. In addition to the monster abi release lever i got a lofrans tigress, a sarca excel#5 anchor, a brand new harken cruising unit 1 furler. I’m replaceing the wooden sprit with 4x4” 316l (3/16) square tube that’s in itself like 30lbs more then the wooden sprit was. So I should bought a 43 but I’m all in on a 32 footer just hope them items don’t prove themselves to much for the bow.

[roverhi]

Originally Posted by Eastward ho 24

Thanks again.... Now I have to decide how to eliminate my selftacking boom, and still be able to point as well, and be able to trim my staysail .the boom really does a good job at that. I'd like the room on the foredeck. Although it's my first cutter rig, and I've only sailed sloops so I wouldn't know much better. But from what I've read and heard it's kinda hard to beat the performance of the staysail boom

Put a short track on the cabin top and sheet your staysail to that. Got rid of the self tacking POS boom on our W32 after one delivery where that damned boom tried to kill me every chance it could. The staysail sheeted to the deck produced a much better setting sail especially as you loosened the sheets. If you are getting a new staysail you can you can also add some area to it as you don't have to worry about the boom hitting the mast.

[Eastward ho 24]

[QUOTE=roverhi;2837967]Put a short track on the cabin top and sheet your staysail to that. Got rid of the self tacking POS boom on our W32 after one delivery where that damned boom tried to kill me every chance it could. The staysail sheeted to the deck produced a much better setting sail especially as you loosened the sheets. If you are getting a new staysail you can you can also add some area to it as you don't have to worry about the boom hitting the mast.[/QUOTE

That was my plan just not sure how far aft and how far inboard would be the best.

[peter loveridge]

mine, on the boat since 1980 or so, is like the photo, never had a problem, it is all chrome plated bronze

[stormalong]

A word of caution about using these. There have been incidents of severe injuries. One case I read about in around the year 2000 someone lost an eye and fractured his skull from the handle of one. There can be a lot of energy stored up in that lever under tension. Keep clear of that lever when releasing it or use a length of PVC pipe as an extension handle so you can deal with the load easier.

[toddster8]

Yeah... don’t try to release it with your teeth? It’s just a load binder like you’d find on any truck, only make of more expensive material.

In fact, if you want a disposable mild steel version for twenty bucks, just go to Harbor Freight Tools.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Put a short track on the cabin top and sheet your staysail to that. Got rid of the self tacking POS boom on our W32 after one delivery where that damned boom tried to kill me every chance it could. The staysail sheeted to the deck produced a much better setting sail especially as you loosened the sheets. If you are getting a new staysail you can you can also add some area to it as you don't have to worry about the boom hitting the mast.

What he said.

Booms on stay-sails are evil. I tossed mine and rigged T-tracks and genoa style pulleys instead. No regrets from my shins.

[gjordan]

Eastward, dont worry about overkill. Hang a good old fashioned windvane on the back to balance the extra weight up front and trade a little less performance for the big plus of steering that is independent of electricity and a windless (even though dependent on electricity) that will make your life a whole lot easier. The weight of the release lever will be made up for when you toss the leg breaker (staysail boom) over the side. All boats are a compromise and sometimes making life easier is more important than an extra .5 Knot. Just my 2 cents worth. Grant.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by stormalong

A word of caution about using these. There have been incidents of severe injuries. One case I read about in around the year 2000 someone lost an eye and fractured his skull from the handle of one. There can be a lot of energy stored up in that lever under tension. Keep clear of that lever when releasing it or use a length of PVC pipe as an extension handle so you can deal with the load easier.

Do you have a source or reference for that, stormalong?

I've heard of finger pinch injuries from users of the mast-mounted Highfield levers used tension the headstay (jib stay) on dinghy racers such as the GP14, and of finger pinch injuries from users of trailer-sailers/racing dinghies who have installed Johnson Quick Release Levers in place of turnbuckles on shrouds and stays.

I've not heard of an injury from an ABI forestay release lever used on the forestay of a cutter.

The ABI forestay release lever has different mechanics from the mechanics of a Highfield lever or a Johnson Quick Release Lever. That's a difference in the way the metal parts fold or scissor together. And a different profile to the metal parts: sharp edged plate/sheet metal in both the Highfield and Johnson QRL cases, in contrast to rounded edges and gaps in the ABI forestay release lever.

In addition, the handle of an ABI forestay release lever is relatively long, compared to the shorter (relatively speaking) handles of a Highfield lever or the Johnson QRL.

The tension in a (inner) forestay (the staysail stay of a cutter) can of course be significant, depending on the size of the boat and the design - the tension is usually consistent with the diameter of the wire rope used in the stay. After all, sailmakers usually cut hollow into the luff of a sail that will be set on a stay (whether it's a jib set on a headstay or a staysail set on a (innner) forestay of a cutter) on the assumption that the stay will be tensioned to ~15% of the SWL of the wire rope (and no doubt on some rig designs, especially fractional rigs with the intent to bend the mast, considerably more than tension that 15% of the wire rope SWL).

And after all, on the foredeck of a boat in a developed sea, it's not hard to injure fingers, toes, shins, heads, and whatever.

But a forestay release lever, such as the ABI lever designed for use on the forestay of a cutter, are usually released in light conditions when changing to sailing the boat as a masthead sloop with an overlapping genoa is advantageous to sailing with a cutter rig (stays'l plus jib topsail, or stays'l plus yankee, etc). So converting from cutter to sloop is usually (but not always, of course) done as wind and sea conditions calm and not when it's time to reduce sail.

I'm not denying that you may have come across news of an injury from a ABI (or other brand) of forestay release lever. I'm interested in learning of the case in question, how it happened, and what equipment was being used.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Do you have a source or reference for that, stormalong?

I've heard of finger pinch injuries from users of the mast-mounted Highfield levers used tension the headstay (jib stay) on dinghy racers such as the GP14, and of finger pinch injuries from users of trailer-sailers/racing dinghies who have installed Johnson Quick Release Levers in place of turnbuckles on shrouds and stays.

I've not heard of an injury from an ABI forestay release lever used on the forestay of a cutter.

The ABI forestay release lever has different mechanics from the mechanics of a Highfield lever or a Johnson Quick Release Lever. That's a difference in the way the metal parts fold or scissor together. And a different profile to the metal parts: sharp edged plate/sheet metal in both the Highfield and Johnson QRL cases, in contrast to rounded edges and gaps in the ABI forestay release lever.

In addition, the handle of an ABI forestay release lever is relatively long, compared to the shorter (relatively speaking) handles of a Highfield lever or the Johnson QRL.

The tension in a (inner) forestay (the staysail stay of a cutter) can of course be significant, depending on the size of the boat and the design - the tension is usually consistent with the diameter of the wire rope used in the stay. After all, sailmakers usually cut hollow into the luff of a sail that will be set on a stay (whether it's a jib set on a headstay or a staysail set on a (innner) forestay of a cutter) on the assumption that the stay will be tensioned to ~15% of the SWL of the wire rope (and no doubt on some rig designs, especially fractional rigs with the intent to bend the mast, considerably more than tension that 15% of the wire rope SWL).

And after all, on the foredeck of a boat in a developed sea, it's not hard to injure fingers, toes, shins, heads, and whatever.

But a forestay release lever, such as the ABI lever designed for use on the forestay of a cutter, are usually released in light conditions when changing to sailing the boat as a masthead sloop with an overlapping genoa is advantageous to sailing with a cutter rig (stays'l plus jib topsail, or stays'l plus yankee, etc). So converting from cutter to sloop is usually (but not always, of course) done as wind and sea conditions calm and not when it's time to reduce sail.

I'm not denying that you may have come across news of an injury from a ABI (or other brand) of forestay release lever. I'm interested in learning of the case in question, how it happened, and what equipment was being used.

I can't say what brand the lever was. There was an article in either Sail or Cruising World about the incident. I remember reading about it on-line, at work and having a discussion about it with co-workers. I am guessing the date based on my employer at the time - from November 1998 to February, 2002. This was a position I held right after completing my circumnavigation and before going cruising again.

It was very significant to me because I have an ABI release lever and it is very hard to close it when attaching my inner forestay. In order to tension the stay I had to lay on deck and use both arms to get the lever to lock. My face would be very close to the lever and I could have injured myself in a similar fashion. After reading the article I used a length of heavy wall PVC pipe to improve leverage and get my face away from the lever.