Boom-- internal outhaul jammed

[marcusn]

Upon inspecting the boom of the 1975 Ericson 27 I purchased late last fall, it seems as if the internal mainsail outhaul is jammed on the boom.

The play line comes out of the spar about 2' in front of the gooseneck, and has a jam cleat just fore of where it comes out (on the port side of the boom).

I made certain the line was not cleated, and went to pull the outhaul at the aft end of the boom thinking that if I didn't have the other end cleated, the line should pull out easily. Not a chance. It just won't budge.

Does anyone know how the line runs, inside the mast, to give me a clue as to how I might begin to remedy this?

[sailingdog]

Marcusn-

Most outhauls in the boom are two-to-one purchases, with a moving block on the inside of the boom that is basically hanging from the two lines that are attached to it.

The reason they do that is so you can have enough leverage to tighten the outhaul properly.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by marcusn

Upon inspecting the boom of the 1975 Ericson 27 I purchased late last fall, it seems as if the internal mainsail outhaul is jammed on the boom.

The play line comes out of the spar about 2' in front of the gooseneck, and has a jam cleat just fore of where it comes out (on the port side of the boom).

I made certain the line was not cleated, and went to pull the outhaul at the aft end of the boom thinking that if I didn't have the other end cleated, the line should pull out easily. Not a chance. It just won't budge.

Does anyone know how the line runs, inside the mast, to give me a clue as to how I might begin to remedy this?

Have you tried pulling the other end of the line where it exits the boom. Just to make sure you have the right one?

If there are blocks inside the boom there is the possibility that the line has become twisted and is binding. But you should still be able to discern some movement when pulling the outhaul car.

Do you have internal reef lines?

Worst comes to worst, you may have to drill out the rivets holding the cap on the end of the boom and take a look.
But before you do that, identify all the the lines in the boom and make sure that you are dealing with the right one.