Main Outhaul Issue

[sailak]

Hi,

My boat has a loose-footed, full batten main. The outhaul is internal of the boom with the clew attached to a traveler car. The tack cringle attaches to a hook at the gooseneck.

The issue is the traveler car is all the way aft yet the foot of the main is loose. I am unable to put any tension on the foot of the sail to flatten it.

I would really like to be able to flatten the sail some, the normal conditions here are 15+ knots. I'm new at this having only had the boat for 1 year but I'm pretty darn sure I've got everything assembled correctly.

Any ideas for flattening the main? Does it sound like the main is not sized correctly?

If photos will help I can get some this week and post them.

Thanks

[Hesper]

From what you describe, if the outhaul is all the way back and the foot is still loose, then I'd have to guess the foot of the sail is too long for your boom. If that's the case, there's not much you can do about it except have the sail re-cut.

[GeorgeB]

Yes, please post a couple of photos. Do you know what your boat’s “E” dimension is? (Should be shorter than your boom length). Is your boom “banded” at the “E” dimension? Can you run a tape measure along the foot of the sail? The physical dimension of the boom too, please. What is the make/model of your boat? I would be pretty surprised if your sailmaker inadvertently made the foot longer than “E”, but stranger things have happened. What was the reason for going full battens and loose footed? Usually you go full for the top two battens and partials for the bottom two. With your set-up, the lower batten will try to keep the foot flat even if you want to loosen it up a bit.

I see that you have four options 1) see if you can move your outhaul further aft on the boom. 2) have your sailmaker take out a little on the foot (to bring it back in to your “E” dimension). 3) Sailmaker adds a “flattener” reef. And, 4) learn to live with a little belly along the foot.

[sailingdog]

When the foot of your sail is fully tensioned, there should be some distance for the outhaul to still travel... as described it does sound like the foot of your sail is too long for the boom.

[Faster]

Do you have a particularly long shackle connecting the clew to the outhaul car? Maybe that connection can be shortened enough to help somewhat.

[sailak]

Originally Posted by Faster

Do you have a particularly long shackle connecting the clew to the outhaul car? Maybe that connection can be shortened enough to help somewhat.

I've already done that. When I bought the boat the clew was attacked to the outhaul car with some line. I replaced that with a D shackle to "tighten up" the connection.

I'm on the way to the boat, I'll make some measurements and take some pics.