Furling Main Sail

[lehighsail]

Time has come to remove the sails for the winter. My main is a furling main. The outhaul line goes thru the clew and attaches to the boom with eye and shackle. The eye and shackle do not fit thru the wheel at the end of the clew to remove. What is the right way to take the outhaul out? Do I have to pull it out from the boom away from the cockpit with a pull string so I can re-run it in the spring? I must be missing something really easy. Thanks.

 

[capta]

I would think that if you removed the shackle from the eye splice that the eye splice should go through the sheave, unless it has a thimble? If it won't, then cut it and resplice it so that it will. That's simple enough.

 

[chuckwayne]

Just remove the shackle and the eye splice will pull around the sheave

 

[DougM]

The eye splice should feed through the block. It may take some fussing because the line has a tendency to swell over time. The other alternatives are as you stated to pull the outhaul completely out after attaching a messenger line, or detaching the block from the clew. I assume the block is stitched through webbing to the sail. If need be, cutting the splice, and resplicing later is not that difficult.

 

[shemandr]

No the eye splice may not go thru the wheel - at least mine didn't. You may need to use the messenger line.
Attach a line to the tail of the halyard using tape ( A little risky) or whipping. The messenger needs to be as long as the length of the boom, twice plus some extra to go to the cockpit from the mast, if you want it led aft. Pull the line through the boom by pulling the splice end. Careful when the whipping/tape rounds the blocks in the boom. Eventually the messenger/outhaul line will appear from the aft end of the boom, and can be pulled through the wheel. Then the lines are separated and tied off. The messenger stays in the boom for next spring's re-reeving of the outhaul, when putting the main back on.

 

[lehighsail]

Unbelievable!!! The eye fit thru the the sheave. Who knew? Thanks for saving me the trouble of messenger lines and time!