Setting-Up In-Boom Outhaul for New Loose-Footed Main - Any Advice?

[Northeaster]

Delmarrey - thanks for the multiple points.

Although i likely will not extend the boom, I want to look at the pros and cons, as I am having a new main sail made, in the next 2 months.

- Mainsheet is at the end of the boom, and I don't think that having it extend an extra foot woudl hurt anything.

- Vang - good point, I do noy have a rigid vang, but may have to consider this, wit hthe loose footed sail. Currently just use topping lift, when dropping sail only.

- room between boom, sail's leech and backstay: If you look at the pic below, there is quite a bit of room between the sail and backstay - granted the boom is set a couple of feet to starboard in the photo.
The new main will have more roach than the old one, which was virtually non-existant.


How did you end up extending your boom. I was thinking of just having a ollar of some sort made, in aluminum or stainless that would extend the gooseneck out a foot or so. The new collar, if aluminum, could be welded or fastened to the bow end of the boom (overlapping for strength) and then fastened to the original gooseneck as teh end of the boom is today.

Any pics of your mods?



Allain - I will ask my sailmaker how the new sail will be attached to the boom. I assume he will have something more modern, such as your setup, rather than copying my old setup.

[Shoalcove]

My mainsail (made by UK in Halifax BTW) is connected to the boom by a very strong spectra strap which runs through the clew and around the boom and held to itself by velcro. Very neat. I don't see how your boom would droop any more than with a car. The outhaul adjusts the tension on the foot, the strap carries the load. My boom has mid-boom sheeting but I don't anticipate any trouble since it's a strong section. I talked to my sailmaker in advance about this and he was unconcerned. I sure it depends on the individual boat. My particular boat has a very short boom so this too is a factor.
Best regards,
Shoalcove

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Northeaster

Delmarrey - thanks for the multiple points.

How did you end up extending your boom. I was thinking of just having a ollar of some sort made, in aluminum or stainless that would extend the gooseneck out a foot or so. The new collar, if aluminum, could be welded or fastened to the bow end of the boom (overlapping for strength) and then fastened to the original gooseneck as teh end of the boom is today.

Any pics of your mods?

I bought a whole new boom. It went from 13'5" to 17', a newer version as well. The old one was alum. tube with fabricated ends.

Extending yours would probably OK if done straight and w/ good welds. If you could get a short section of your original boom that would be best by butting it up, chamfer the edges and using backing plates behind the welds, grind smooth and paint.

Originally Posted by Shoalcove

I don't see how your boom would droop any more than with a car.

If you look at the picture in my first post you will see the outhaul comes out of the boom, thru the car block, thru the clew block and back to the car attachment. When I let out on the outhaul it allows the boom to droup (w/o a semi-ridig vang) or the sail to raise up. So this is why I use a car, that can move forward w/o the clew flying off , and create a balloon effect for downwind. The car has an out haul as well.

A starp around the boom would work the same if you don't have any other gear obstructing it's movement or not under load. I have a single line reefing system.

[Shoalcove]

OK. I guess I should have taken a closer look at your setup. Thanks!

[Northeaster]

Shoalcove - I am having a new main sail made (Victory in Dartmouth), and he will be making the sail to allow for the outhaul. Today I measured the distance from the mast track, to the end of the boom, and from the boom to the main halyard sheave, at the top of the mast. I will be giving him those numbers, along with the published rig dimensions, and the old sail.

I will also email him pics of the boom, mast track, etc.

I am confident that he will allow for the distance needed to tighten the foot, when designing the new sail.

I don't imagine that I will be lengthening the boom for a couple of reasons:

- work involved
- small gain in performance / sail area.
- possibility of more weather helm. Boat is well balanced now.
- most importantly, currently the end of the boom stops juts at the aft edge of the dodger frame, and is very safe for the crew. If it were longer I can see someone (likley myself) getting hit by accident, where previously we would have been out of the way.
I realize many boats have longer booms, but on many they do go a bit above head level. Mine is right at the chin level!

[Shoalcove]

We got our sail from Eric at Victory(UK) as well and were very pleased with the result. I don't see the point in extending your boom either. We have a similarly short boom and like the safety aspect. We had them add some roach to the sail to improve performance.
Cheers, Shoalcove

[Northeaster]

Yes, Eric has been great in answering all of my questions thus far.


Delmarrey - I unbolted the track, padeye, etc on the side of the boom, so |I can put shorter screws in. There is currently nothing to cut or snag any lines on the inside of the boom.

i have traced out a cross section of the end of the boom, so I can make sure that any required blocks will fit inside.

Will start shopping for the in-boom hardware soon.

[delmarrey]

The pictures below are combined to make my setup except for the halyard line that exits the boom, E & F, which goes to a sheave in the front of the boom, down to the deck thru another block, then to an organizer, back to the cockpit and locked in a cam cleat.

Standing in my cockpit I can barely reach the top side of the boom. You can imagine trying to pull an an outhaul that's over your head. And of course when the sail needs to be the flatest is when it's the hardest to pull.

The second outhaul is not like the second picture but "D" just goes up to the first reef, which also goes to the front of the boom and back to the cockpit on the opposite side.

BTW "A" will need to be attached far enough forward with enough line to allow the mainsail to balloon out a bit and the blocks can not be too close together when at full tension.

[Gosling]

Here's an outhaul that I made for a customer with a Hunter 367 some years ago. It is a 4:1 tackle with a cascade which gives an 8:1 advantage. It has proven to be adequate. The length of shock cord aft keeps the tackle in tension which tends to keep the falls from getting tangled when tension is off.

Cheers,

MikeR

[Northeaster]

Gosling - thanks for the drawing. I think I will go with the 8:1, similar to your drawing.

Thanks to everyone for all of the advice!

[Weyalan]

For what it is worth, a simple webbing strap around the boom works almost as well as a track and car for the clew of the main. In fact, we use a webbing strap with hook velcro on one side and loop velcro on the other, that wraps around the boom and throught the clew ring about 3 times. It has enough slack for the clew to sit about 1.5" above the boom (when loaded), and seems to work pretty well with the outhaul.

Edit:
If possible, rn the tail of your outhaul out of the boom, down to the base of the mast and back to a jammer adjacent to the cockpit. No point having the adjustment on the boom, if you are running and the boom is way out there

[barnakiel]

I believe the system in pictures by delmarrey might be made more bullet-proof by having some sort of back-up in case the outhaul line snaps - a slug for the clew or a loop of Spectra run once around the boom, etc.. As it is, it seems that if the outhaul snaps, the sail will flog free and the boom will drop.

b.

[Shoalcove]

Northeaster- the main Eric at UK made for us is loosefooted and has a webbing strap like Weyalan describes. Very slick!

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I believe the system in pictures by delmarrey might be made more bullet-proof by having some sort of back-up in case the outhaul line snaps - a slug for the clew or a loop of Spectra run once around the boom, etc.. As it is, it seems that if the outhaul snaps, the sail will flog free and the boom will drop.

b.

Not to worry. In my case, I have the semi-rigid vang and a topping lift to catch the boom if need be.

And if the outhaul were to snap (lack of maintenance) I could just let go the main halyard, drop the sail and re-rig. Either way one would have to stop for repairs.

But yeah! The strap method sounds like a good idea too!