David: Trevor suggested one way to solve the problem and that is to redo the internal setup inside the boom. That involves removing the boom from the boat and getting off both end caps. If your luck is anything like mine, you'll break one of the caps in the process. My first attempt at this was pretty funny. I removed the boom and lugged it the full 64 slips from my boat to my wifes Toyoto Camry and tried to jamb it in her car (without her knowledge) for the trip home. It was a lot longer and heavier than I thought it would be. Obviously it didn't fit in her car and I had to lug it back to the boat and get my p/u to get it home. When I got it home, I went to work on the 8 screws that hold both end caps in place and promptly stripped the heads off of all 8 of them. At that point, instead of drilling out the screws, I decided to just paint the boom and use another method to repair the outhaul. Here's the problem with the Catalina outhaul. The inside setup is cheasy and the block itself twists over time and becomes inoperative. That's why you can't move it. Also, the slug that rides in the track is a poor design. The pulling action of the outhaul is a downward motion, which causes the slug to dig into the track as you attempt to pull it aft. My solution to this twofold problem was to install 2 Harken triple blocks on the end of the boom. One on the clew and the other on the topping lift tang. These two Harken blocks are expensive little buggers but the whole installion takes about 15 minutes and with 6:1 purchase I could pull the cringle out of the clew if I wanted to. The pulling angle is more horizontal. I have a picture of this modification on my web site. Contact me at yankee3223@juno.com and I'll tell you how to access the site.
