Hey Steve,

Most of my experience is with this style from Nomen, they're now being used on some of the larger Jeanneaus and Benes I saw at the show:

http://www.nomenproducts.de/en/cleat/design/

I hated the damn things, they were one of the worst for 'holding' a cleated line, I quickly learned to finish off every figure 8 with a couple of half hitches... Plus, they were a maintenance nightmare, the little rubber balls that 'popped' them open, or held them closed, would begin to degrade and fail in fairly short order, and renewing them was an incredible PITA... Although, I understand Nomen has since made some sort of 'upgrade' to alleviate this issue...

Still, I just never trusted the damn things... When I first heard talk of the possibility of salvaging the Gunboat 55 RAINMAKER, my first thought was that any attempt to tow that thing wouldn't last more than a couple of minutes, knowing that boat was fitted with those stupid things on her bow(s)... (grin)

Here's a pic that shows the wider view of the impracticality of those transom cleats on that Hunter... Dealing with those things would grow old pretty quickly, no?

And, how about that placement of the winch between the legs of that arch? Sure hope that one has a button to push to operate... (grin)

best regards,

Jon