Loosefoot main and vang

[mrgnstrn]

Outhaul & Uphaul...(?)

... I am wondering if anyone has any ideas short of Tony's new boom end?...

Sure, I have a harken 6:1 magic box near the end of the boom. I put a small block at the end of the boom. So the outhaul goes from the clew of the main, back to the end of the boom, through the block and forward on the boom for a few feet and terminates at the moving end of the majic box. To adjust outhaul tension, just pull onthe small line exiting the box, and voile' ...6:1 advantage and about 6" of adjustment range.
To cleat it off, I just mounted a small "lance cleat" (a wonderful little toy from RWO, you should check them out). I made sure to put the lance cleat far enough forward on the boom so as to be able to adjust it even when sailing on a run with the main let way out. But not so far forward as to need to leave the cockpit when sailing on a beat. I don't think I have a picture, but will look when I get home.

The small line exiting the magic box is plenty long enough to lead forward, down to some turning blocks and

[Dan Maliszewski]

At the dock, after the main was lowered and gasketted, we simply hooked the main halyard shackle to the tack hook and gently raised the boom to the upper end of the track using the main halyard winch. We then set the small slider (looked custom made) thumbscrew to hold it there. Gave us more headroom in the cockpit, so's you didn't clunk your beverage bottle on the boom and spill any.

Capt. Amos - that little block on the front of the mast just below the spreaders is for the spinnaker pole topping lift.

[Lucky Dawg]

Carted my main and genoa to Bluffton Bay Sails http://www.blufftonbaysails.com/staff.html for a tummy tuck and restitching.

Jim suggested that my 40 year old main would do better loose footed, so I am loose footed now. I asked about some of the issues within this thread - stress on the boom, vang issues, and he felt like due to the shape of my main (stretched out, old, and tired) that the stress points on my boom were currently only at the ends - as they would be loose footed. The bag at boom level was doing nothing to spread the load. He felt that I was probably having to far overtighten all of my sail controls just to get some sort of decent sail shape and that the loose foot would actually relieve some stress. I must admit that I probably missed a fair portion of his comments due to lack of sail construction knowledge, but the upshot is as I am presenting it. I figure it is a limited-risk experiment. Given its tired status, at worst I would have to replace the sail - which I had been pondering anyway.

He's pricing out a house-brand roller furling genoa for me. He is a North Sails shop, but that stuff is too rich for my blood.

Anyone have access to whomever might create the press-on Commander ensignia for my main? He has a guy in CA who has the Commander image in his files - the ready to apply images are $50 a side. Other resources out there?

[Tony G]

We worked with 'Super-Duper' Joe Cooper at hood sails America. I honestly can't remember the cost of insignia/number application but you could give them a try. Joe's a hoot to talk with and has some interesting stories and insight.

[SkipperJer]

I bought some adhesive-backed insignia cloth from Sailrite and copied the insignia from my old main. My 5 pointed star copy was looking a little cock-eyed so I checked the point locations with a set of dividers and recut it ever-so-slightly smaller to get it balanced right. It turns out that copying/tracing was more awkward than using dividers to find the 5 points of the star. I trimmed the bars down slightly to match. Lesson learned: you can make the Commander insignia from scratch easier than copying it. I used colored chalk to lay out position markers on the sail and stuck 'em on. It seems to be working fine. Looks like the original to me from the deck.