J24 Blog

We’re ready to disassemble the boom, shake out the several decades of dirt and spider-webs that must be sealed inside, and re-build our mainsail outhaul. The class regs allow up to a 6:1 outhaul purchase. I’m fairly certain that ours is still the stock 2:1. At any rate, the rope portion of the line that exits midboom for cleating is so worn it looks like an old clothes line. It’s seriously overdue for replacement.

We had planned to buy the outhaul replacement kit from Annapolis Performance Sailing, or just buy the same parts from Fisheries Supply or West Marine locally. The kit comes with all the parts and line you need and 3 of the 4 swages completed. The last swage connects the wire to the shackle end after it passes through the sheave-box on the end of the boom, so it must be done as the last step of installation. This means that buying or borrowing a swaging tool…

I sent and email to our fleet listserv and got back some offers to lend swaging tools, but more importantly, got some guidance on upgrading the outhaul to an all-rope system and eliminating the wire portions all together. 3 different replies came in from top boats in our fleet with the same recommendation: go with the high tech ropes, get all the wire that isn’t required by the class off your boat. One recommendation even eliminated the shackle – they just tie the end of the outhaul line into the sail with a bowline. That is serious go-fast mode.

My new plan is to buy the couple of double and triple blocks needed, then construct the rest from rope. I’ll probably go with knots to ensure that I can get all the lengths right, and decide later if we should pay a rigger to go with splices instead.

The intended shopping list is:

• Harken H227
• Harken H228
• About 35′ of 1/4″ line with a poly jacket that will be the cleating end that also runs through the block system inside the boom
• About 10′ of 1/8″ 12 braid line from which I’ll make the two different portions
• An 18″ pennant that runs from the sail shackle, through the sheave and connects to the block system inside the boom, and
• A 5 1/2′ section that connects the block system inside the boom to it’s anchor point inside the gooseneck

I’m hoping to get it all assembled and installed this weekend. We’ll see how it works in next Tuesday night’s race.