Hanse 385 Rig

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   Dear Sailors,

    I am considering buying a Hanse 385 I would love to hear your experiences on this topic...

    I noticed many 385s has only two winches while some are equiped with four winches and jib tracks.

    Wondering...
       ... are the jib tracks for a genoa or Code 0 or ... ?
       ... if I go for the two winches (without jib tracks), is it possible to install them afterwards ?
       ... I assume they are mostly for low wind conditions - do they make a huge difference ?

Thanks,

M

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seemar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Sub Lieutenant Joined: 17 February 2026 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote seemar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Hanse 385 Rig Posted: 17 February 2026 at 20:37
	Dear Sailors, I am considering buying a Hanse 385 I would love to hear your experiences on this topic... I noticed many 385s has only two winches while some are equiped with four winches and jib tracks. Wondering... ... are the jib tracks for a genoa or Code 0 or ... ? ... if I go for the two winches (without jib tracks), is it possible to install them afterwards ? ... I assume they are mostly for low wind conditions - do they make a huge difference ? Thanks, M

AndyS Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Captain Joined: 14 June 2016 Location: River Dunes, NC Status: Offline Points: 206	Post Options Post Reply Quote AndyS Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 17 February 2026 at 21:14
	Our 385 has only two winches (starboard one is electric) and I have never had an issue with only having two. You just end up using the jammers to hold lines in place rather than the winches. We don't have the tracks and I have only used the self-tacker. But there are pad eyes on the deck and I have some blocks that I could use if I wanted a more traditional jib. Adding more winches would be possible but you would want to make sure there is a strong backing plate underneath!
	Andy Moonraker River Dunes, NC

S&J Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admiral Joined: 30 August 2014 Location: Perth WA / Med Status: Offline Points: 1371	Post Options Post Reply Quote S&J Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 18 February 2026 at 01:17
	I think one of the delights of the Hanse range is the self tacking jib. I have sailed many miles solo or with inexperienced crew and the boat sails fast upwind with minimal effort using this sail. Off the wind I rig "outside" sheets from a block near the midships cleat (or you can use the midships cleat itself as a sheet lead). This opens up the jib and reduces twist. The additional tracks are for a 105% overlapping sail. I've never used one as I'm dubious about the value of this marginal sail area increase. The additional winches are only for spinnaker. I used an asymmetric in a sock on my 385 and now have a Furlstrom on my 458. The additional winches allow you to have dedicated winches for the spinnaker sheets, however I didn't have these in the 385 and used Spinlock (BRS?) locking/jamming blocks which allows you to lock off the spinnaker sheets if you need to make adjustments to halyards or mainsheet. I didn't have electric winches on the 385 and really didn't need them. I could hoist the main 75% without using a winch and then finished off the last bit manually on the winch. Of course with crew you can have someone bounce the halyard at the mast and you'll just meet to put the final tension in using.a winch. At 66 I do have one electric winch for the main halyard on the 458 which has a significantly larger mainsail. In summary I wouldn't want the 105% tracks and, while nice to have, you can manage an asymmetric without dedicated winches. Another thing to be aware of is that Hanse have used 3 different rig manufacturers on the 385 (ZSpars, Sparcraft and, since 2015, Selden). The technical drawings with rig measurements supplied with my Hanse in 2015 didn't match my Selden rig and I was lucky not to end up with a spinnaker the wrong size.
	H458 #159 Primal Mediterranean cruising



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