Rigging outhaul

[hoehn000]

Saturday's sail went from 5kts and pretty quickly worked its way up to 20+kts. As it picked up first thing I did was add halyard tension and attempt to add outhaul tension to flatten the main. I waited to long and didn't have enough purchase to tension the outhaul. Tried to do it while I came through the wind and that helped a little, but not easy to do short-handed with lines at the mast.

Currently the outhaul is run from the clew around a block at the end of the boom where it enters the boom, exits closer to the mast and gets cleated off. Looking for options to increase purchase, I have no access to the inside of the boom. Any ideas would be great.

[mdidomenico]

Knowing what kind of boat you have would help with the suggestions from others.

[hoehn000]

Good call...should be good to go. If anyone misses the profile it's an Irwin Citation 30

[Dockhead]

Put the block at the clew and fix the end of the outhaul at the end of the boom, and voila, you have double purchase. May work better with a car (my boat is like that), but that could be hard to retrofit.

Stating the obvious, luffing up a bit or letting the traveller down, will make it much easier to trim the outhaul.

[autumnbreeze27]

If the trick for going 2:1 doesn't help, you may have to go into the boom.

Our C34 had the outhaul in the boom. It had some blocks in there that would twist making it unusable. We replaced the gear with better stuff and more purchase and that made a huge difference. Getting the boom apart was a PITA, but it was worth it.

[sesmith]

On ours, I got 2:1 by running the outhaul line through the clew grommet, and secured the end of the line on an eye strap that I riveted in line at the rear of the boom. We have a loose foot main, which also helps.