Anhinga Wrote:
I need to rebuild Anhinga?s main outhaul. Her boom
just has the outhaul car that has attached a small
length of wire rope with a swaged eye splice. That
rope has been cut for some reason. At the boom?s
end there is a turning block and next the mast
end, starboard side, there is a slot and a cleat.
That?s all.
I don?t know what the original setup was so I ask
your good help.
Your outhaul’s original setup sounds the same as Itchen’s Forespar boom, probably standard for Sam L. Morse production for that period, maybe later, Roger Olsen would know. I have not fussed with the internal leads of Itchen’s boom but I assume that it (and yours originally) has a block on the bitter end of the wire strop and then a line running from the cleat near the gooseneck through that slot and then inside the boom around the block and back to a termination point, giving a 2:1 purchase. If anyone knows to the contrary, please set me straight. I think that is plenty for a BCC because if it is blowing hard enough to need more advantage it is probably time to reef anyway and then the clew outhaul becomes redundant. The only other time to flatten the foot of the main is in really light air when a flatter main helps maintain attached flow, and then who needs any mechanical advantage anyway. The disadvantage of 5:1 is that you then need more than twice as long an outhaul line with much more of a coil to secure when the foot is flattened.
What I?m thinking to do is install a 5:1 tack
inside the boom like in the picture attached. The
bitter end will go through that starboard slot
that I?ll cover with an exit plate, leading the
line to the cleat.
Is this the normal setup?
Not a bad design for a dinghy or hot racing boat with shelf-foot main but overkill for a BCC, I believe.
By the way, before posting this message, I
searched the forum and fund a message where Bil of
Zygote advises to ?cut the wire rope and swaged a
new eye splice that I shackle direct to the clew
of the mainsail (and so change the angle of the
turn, making the outhaul easier to adjust and
stopping the wire rope from chewing into the
outhaul track)?.
I?m thinking to go that way too.
I’ve gotten by with an occasional shot of WD-40 but have been known to go days without adjusting the outhaul. We seldom touch it unless going from hard on the wind to a reach or viv=ce versa, and then only when planning to stay on that leg for a very long time. Very different from round the buoys dinghy racing, but in my experience the BCC has a very forgiving rig and sail plan, and small adjustments haven’t seemed so important.
Jib and staysail fore and aft lead adjustments are more important, and if I were to get serious about speed when match racing another BCC (Rod of Iduna, shut your ears!), I would certainly rig barber haulers to play with the slot between jib staysail and main. But have been to the Bahamas and back and up to Maine without bothering, so go figure . . . Just one guy’s opinion, there are lot’s of options and sometimes it is just plain fun to play around with all those expensive strings.
Luis Dordio Gomes
Anhinga, hull 83
One last thought on sail adjustments. I finally abandoned my traditionalist romance with rolling hitches and handy-Billy tackles and actually mounted a winch and two clutches for my reef lines – and oh my, how much easier and faster it is to throw in a reef when it’s dark and bouncy. Just as important, it makes it possible to get the foot really really tight – that and tightly secured reef points make for a much better set to the main, with noticeably more draft-forward punch through waves. To see what a really bad reef looks like, see the photo of Itchen sailing into Manjack Cay which I posted earlier today. WHen I saw that photo I realized it was time to spend some $$$$ on another little winch and clutches.
A couple of Itchen outhaul photos are attached.
