The sheer pleasure of a beautifully controlled powerful downhaul system, and the agony of a slipping rope spoiling time and correct tensions when the wind is up. this makes the 'pump' adjuster the most frustrating bit of windsurfing equipment I have ever owned.
Back to Reg for a new rope (special one this time "this will never slip"). Take it all to bits, wire brush the wheel, soak it in vinegar, phosphoric acid, clr or maybe hydrochloric, all the same; it works perfectly for a couple of months then on that special day it skids again....throw sand in it, jamb some sea weed in it, anything to get sailing, finally out with a soggy luff, half tensioned sail with unbalanced uncontrolled power.
Too good to throw away, but a pain to keep, there had to be an answer, there is, and its easy.
Simply modify the system so that the pulling down rope does a full turn around the power wheel and exits into your hand rather than into the mast. Finish up with a couple of half hitches around the purchase, it always works.
To achieve this you must remove the stripper, a bit of plastic that sticks out over the wheel and diverts the rope into the mast, you can do this with a 6mm drill. Get the old one out of the garage, its worth trying again!

I have 2 of these. Have been using them for about 3 years. Never had any issue with rope slipping.
My tip. Do NO maintenance on them. And i mean NO maintenance. If a part breaks, replace it. But apart from that, no cleaning, no rinsing, nothing.

I too have two of these which I have had for many (6?) years and have had no problem with rope slippage since North upgraded the plastic spring with a metal one.
Did you still have the plastic spring? Metal ones are readily and cheaply available (but not from Reg).
Similar to boardboy, I do no maintenance on mine except when the rope or spring needs replacing. Actually I recently broke the lever on one when frayed rope jammed it, and I replaced the lever with the newer longer version. What was already a good system is now a dream!

I have a long one and a short one and love them both equally.

I love them so much, I have modified them so I can use them with my rdm's and sdm's.

The short one I have fitted it's ratchet base to a carbon extension (Fibrespar) and it works a treat and is a lot lighter.

I have also altered the pulley wheel system and added a new cleat so it can take any sail tack pulley orientation without the ropes crossing over and gives a 6:1 ratio.

I agree with the guys above. I do no maintanance.

It's the only North thing I own and is one of my favourite pieces of equipment.

I got the Power XT2.0 (the latest 2014 version) and it is fantastiic

Have adjusted the downhaul out on the water while sitting on the board Absolutely brilliant innovation!

It is not the 90's anymore, downhaul is rather more realistic now.
I'm hardly Adonis and I can waaay overdownhaul a race sail with a broomstick or harness bar.
Leave the gadgets to the euro's.

Well unfortunately I can't share your experiences.
Mine was pretty good on non-cam free style sails but once I used it on the race sail Reflex III, it was gone just after 2 riggings. Got a new parts from UK and it lasted 3 riggings. There's so much tension on these sails that it was impossible to release downhaul without cog slipping and stripping the edges of those teeth. At the end I gave up and replaced whole system with 3 SS pulleys as can be seen on the photos. No I have 100% reliable extension with great leverage of 3 pulleys against 4 pulleys on the race sail. But as I mention, it could work pretty well with freestyle, non-cam sails which don't require too much downhaul tension.

It's not that sails are hard to downhaul,
(I've never wanted one of those winch-winding things!)

it's the ease and convenience of on water adjustment if the wind picks up, drops out etc.
Thats why they are awesome.

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Bondalucci said..
It's not that sails are hard to downhaul,

(I've never wanted one of those winch-winding things!)

it's the ease and convenience of on water adjustment if the wind picks up, drops out etc.

Thats why they are awesome.

Still don't get it.
Rig a sail for the gusts, so it is close to max downhaul.
If wind drops it is easy to let 10-20mm off. Then your only likely need to adjust on the water is easy.

Seriously, wavesails have a narrow range and I reckon I change the downhaul setting maybe once every 3 sessions. Maybe. How many people actually change downhaul on the water?

If you don't NEED one (ie a back injury precludes downhauling), use normal stuff and forget the slippage problems.

but there are no slippage problems.
If you've got the steel spring (not the old plastic one)

There is no downside.

Geo Geo, how do you rate that shock absorber bit? Fascinating piece of gear.

Was really enjoying using mine a while back. Wind picks up a couple of clicks on the shore done. Or vice a versa for for wind dropping off. Only thing is I bent mine in the surf. Have cut it down and look forward to using again when there is wind once again. I think it actually states not suitable for race sails. Interested also to hear what people think of the shock absorber.

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Bondalucci said..

but there are no slippage problems.
If you've got the steel spring (not the old plastic one)

There is no downside.

WOW, that is such a good endorsement of the product, so nobody else gets a problem, SORRY Reg! I believe you now.
It must be that I have never washed the downhauls with freshwater after sailing, just stuff them in the garage with the fully rigged sails.

The continual corrosion to the serrations of the aluminium wheels must destroy their sharpness, and render the assembly useless.
Thanks guys.

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Bondalucci said..

I've never wanted one of those winch-winding things!

I thought that too, until I got one and now I don't know why I waited so long. They are back friendly. They are simple to use, practical, robust, functional and reliably. There is nothing to maintain and nothing to break.

Mark is also right, down haul for the gust when rigging on shore. If you have to adjust then let the downhaul off 10 to 20mm in the water.

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jaymac said..

Bondalucci said..

but there are no slippage problems.
If you've got the steel spring (not the old plastic one)

There is no downside.

WOW, that is such a good endorsement of the product, so nobody else gets a problem, SORRY Reg! I believe you now.
It must be that I have never washed the downhauls with freshwater after sailing, just stuff them in the garage with the fully rigged sails.

The continual corrosion to the serrations of the aluminium wheels must destroy their sharpness, and render the assembly useless.
Thanks guys.

The issue is (I have a few and dont use them anymore) the orginal cord is a 4.5mm cord. nothing here in Aus in 4.5. Its either 4 or 5mm. Use 4mm
Easy fix, as soon as it starts to slip, reverse the down-haul cord so it gets to run on a new section. Always use top quality down-haul. Reg has, or used to have a bloody big spool down the back. More expensive tha the rest but its the best on market. Think its called mylar cord... maybe
Great for down-haul, but off-haul can be a pain on water, as the pricks of things sometimes let go a bunch and you loose original settings.

XT2.0 has many improvements over the old version....
If you had the older version, they had 50% off trade-in, earlier this year.

I have no problems having a pull on the downhaul rope either and fought the idea of buying one ....But now I am a convert....

Here is a review of the new version:

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Beaglebuddy said..

Geo Geo, how do you rate that shock absorber bit? Fascinating piece of gear.

I really rate the shox system, takes a bit to get used to as it kinda absorbs some of the downforce on the board I used to use them for all my gear, I went back to normal base for slalom just to get that bit more downforce back. Still use the Shox for my bump & jump setup and I reckon it's a definite board/mast/boom saver, have had some accidental flat landings from decent height jumps & there is a big reduction in strain on the kit doing this. I always figured if it saves a $2000+ board from snapping then they are well worth the exorbitant price. Also makes sharper rockered entry boards nicer to use in the chop.

My only criticism is they are hard on the uj component as they cut into it a little if you say land a jump with the base off centre and I found eventually on them it pays to replace the nylon washers between the urethane absorbers with stainless steel washers, this keeps it in alignment better (looks like they've addressed this in the new shox system). Of the power bases is I wish they'd have another pulley and better pulley's, then they'd put less strain on the wheel teeth and work great with high tension race sails, wouldn't be hard to configure something like north's new pulley arrangement with the ratchet pulley for this to work.

I broke an power xt and no questions on warranty, though they accidentally replaced it with normal xt- I couldn't be bothered arguing (I really miss not having the power ratchet on my wave sails).

Shameless plug- I do have a sdm power xt shox extension with base for sale (I only use rdm now).

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mkseven said..


I went back to normal base for slalom just to get that bit more downforce back.

Interesting situation with the down force. North claims for this type of sailing the shox is faster, at first it seemed slower but GPS confirmed it's faster. Kinda like going downhill on a full suspension mountain bike, more sedate but faster.

Have been using these for 6 years now, no real problems to report other than the earlier model can be a bit hard to release at times.
have the new 2014 model now and love it

as mkseven says"Shameless plug- I do have a sdm power xt shox extension with base for sale ",
well i have a spare rdm shox with long extension and base if anyone is interested. double

I did find on the earlier ones a bit of silicone spray on the ratchet wheel helped them spin freely, and i did replace the plastic clip with the metal one.

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Beaglebuddy said...

mkseven said..


I went back to normal base for slalom just to get that bit more downforce back.

Interesting situation with the down force. North claims for this type of sailing the shox is faster, at first it seemed slower but GPS confirmed it's faster. Kinda like going downhill on a full suspension mountain bike, more sedate but faster.

for all other sailing except with race sails I agree with North. They affect a well practiced slalom sailor in a couple of ways- until you get used to them they can have a slight affect on early planing, slalom sailing you are riding on the edge so need consistent downforce & flat water speed I think every bit of grunt helps. Contrary to Norths claims I havent noticed their pwa slalom guys using them. They do make freeride & bump n jump sailing less tiring & yes slightly faster as the board bounces back less. If you find the original shox thread on here I was really sceptical of them, one was thrown at me to try & after first try I bought 2 of them. They behave slightly different under full race sails, the added weight & downforce of the sail immediately pre-loads & takes away half of the travel, wavesails dont at all.

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mkseven said..

Beaglebuddy said..

Geo Geo, how do you rate that shock absorber bit? Fascinating piece of gear.

I really rate the shox system, takes a bit to get used to as it kinda absorbs some of the downforce on the board I used to use them for all my gear, I went back to normal base for slalom just to get that bit more downforce back. Still use the Shox for my bump & jump setup and I reckon it's a definite board/mast/boom saver, have had some accidental flat landings from decent height jumps & there is a big reduction in strain on the kit doing this. I always figured if it saves a $2000+ board from snapping then they are well worth the exorbitant price. Also makes sharper rockered entry boards nicer to use in the chop.

My only criticism is they are hard on the uj component as they cut into it a little if you say land a jump with the base off centre and I found eventually on them it pays to replace the nylon washers between the urethane absorbers with stainless steel washers, this keeps it in alignment better (looks like they've addressed this in the new shox system). Of the power bases is I wish they'd have another pulley and better pulley's, then they'd put less strain on the wheel teeth and work great with high tension race sails, wouldn't be hard to configure something like north's new pulley arrangement with the ratchet pulley for this to work.

I broke an power xt and no questions on warranty, though they accidentally replaced it with normal xt- I couldn't be bothered arguing (I really miss not having the power ratchet on my wave sails).

Shameless plug- I do have a sdm power xt shox extension with base for sale (I only use rdm now).

I agree 100%. That's exactly what I've noticed, great for freestyle and B&J but not so sure on my slalom gear. Plus the ratchet system is big NO for race sails with lots of downhaul tension. Since I'm now using only slalom gear I've got rid of original Power system and installed 3 SS pulleys and it works great.

i have had no problems using them on race sails.

They are a waste of money. You need to buy a new wheel for the mechanism every few months. Those that say that they have no problems obviously don't sail much...

never replaced a wheel cept one of the early ones which split. You can do maintenance to the wheel to keep them good. I've rigged 8.6 vapor with them so they work fine up to that. Dont think i'd rig formula sails with them. Remo but you dont sail...

i think Remo kites?? you probably don't need one for a kite.

I've got the XTR (retail customer, paid full price minus 10%). Had it for 2 seasons. Absolutely love it. No issues at all, used it on all my SDM sails including race.

3 things I've been told at the time of purchase to avoid all hassles:
1. Wash the ratchet end in fresh water after use. (All I've ever done is a quick rinse out of a bottle).
2. ALWAYS leave it on the +ve (tension) setting when in use, or in storage. VERY IMPORTANT! or ratchet will slip.
3. Periodically, use the different section of the rope around the pulley where it grips to apply tension. Easy to do. Rope lasts much longer. Mine has plenty of battle scars but couldn't be bothered replacing, should last another season I reckon.

Great way to try different settings on the water and back to your old setting by counting clicks. Ease of adjustment taught me a lot about downhaul tuning on different sails.

Like everything else mechanical, it is going to wear out and it has moving parts that will need replacing. I've already gotten my money's worth out of it. If it was lost, stolen or broken, would buy another one for sure.