gear test: rope clutches

The rope clutches have created quite a revolution in the world of sailing gear. They can take quite a load, they are easy to handle and by now there are different suppliers, so prices are coming down. Mostly, they are used for the halyards or reefing ropes.

By now I have two generations of Lewmar rope clutches and one set by Spinlock. I use them for the sails and for the reefs. One old Lewmar rope clutch I use for the tension of the backstay.
They work perfectly, although the older Lewmar ones, which are nearly 15 years old. The old ones are starting to show their age and nearing the end of their useful lifetimes. The levers to open them no longer stay open, so you have to put them down manually and hold them down. But this is after a long life... 
The Spinlock and the Lewmar have two different holding down designs for the ropes. 

The Spinlock uses one bracket to hold down the rope, upper picture. The Lewmar ones have 6 to 8, picture below. There are technical discussions in every yachting magazine or forums about them. I don´t wanna start another one.

But there is two key reasons why I prefer the Spinlock design. 

1. Every spring I fiddle the ropes through them. And there is the difference. The Spinlock just has one clamp to hold down the rope, the Lewmar 6.  So it takes some time to get the rope through it.
2. Simple maintance. With just one clamp the maintance is quite easy.

 

As mentioned before there are many tests in magazines and forums where the holding strength and damage to ropes is discussed, here are some of them.

PBO June 2012 issue 
YBW Forum 
Sailnet

Honestly,  I can´t see any reason to complain about the different methods for holding down the rope.

I never recognized slip of the rope or any heavy damage to the rope. So I think it is all about a peronal opinion of the yacht owner.

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