Is anybody using the north power extension, what do they think of them, do they slip, what are they like with big sails were you need lots of tension, do they last,I see there is a new model called XTR are they any better. Look forward to hearing all coments good and bad thinking of buying one. Thanks Webby1
I have an XT and it's brilliant. You'd probably want the XTR for race sails- my biggest is a 5.4. I've never had any problems with slipping or anything, but it can be a bit savage on the downhaul rope. Any slight nick in the rope and it starts to deteriorate fairly quickly, so it just pays to check the rope each time. A bit of regular maintenence, like a freshwater rinse and the occasional spray of a dry lubricant in the moving parts seems to keep it in good nic. Fantastic for adjusting the downhaul on the water. Not cheap, but I reckon it's money well spent.
webby1 have a XTR, you will get the slippage if the rope dies a tad. But all in all, a great item. The supplied rope is from North at 4.5mm, and not readily available, I switched to 5mm when it eventually wore out, and then back to a 4mm as the 5mm was a pain to use. The 4mm supplied by Reg at Windsurfing Perth, cant remember its brand name.
Have found that if you switch the way you thread over the sail end pulley (for those pulleys that don't have bars blocking)and put a different angle on the rope over the serrated pulley, it just about eliminates any slippage issue. When you think the rope is a tad worn, just switch it end for end in the system for another good run.
Eventually the serration's need a clean up with a dremel, but not a big issue.
Mineral
i got 1 of these gadgets a few weeks ago and have used it several times since on race sails, have to say at this stage it is working like a charm its fantastic for on the water adjustment saves having to go in and fine tune the down haul manually.used it yesterday a couple of times in a remote sailing spot where a walk to the car for the old winch would of been several hundred meters.
Thanks fot the comments I have bought one of Reg and works great so far very easy to make adjustments in down haul and no problems so far
