h26 loose footed main

[Bilgewater]

I finished my loose foot rig, and like it alot. I put a bail at the end of the boom and attached a single becket block there. On the clew I attached a 4-1 fiddle block. The sheet leads aft to an existing sheeve in the boom, then forward to a curved exit plate and on to the cleat. The photo shows it in the extreme aft position, which still allows some play in the foot of the sail. I can get up to 20% draft if needed, 2 feet on the 10 foot foot. (?)
I bought everything from Duckworks www.duckworksmagazine.com for less than $50.00. So far, I have been very pleased. Downwind I can really belly out the sail, and upwind I can tweak it by watching the tell tales on the main. I'm looking forward to much better sailing this season!

 

[Don Guillette]

Bilgewater: You have a nice outhaul setup. I had the same setup on my Catalina30. The external outhaul is very important on the older C30's because the internal outhaul on those boats doesn't seem to ever work. The result is the outhaul is frozen and like the broken clock is only right for one particular point of sail and wind condition. The outhaul is the primary control for draft depth and a secondary control for draft position.

It is very easy to induce too much draft depth into a loose footed main. When that happens you are also changing the draft position. It is moving aft. The end result is that both actions tend to cancel each other out. Anyway, you have installed a very effective outhaul system.

 

[Bilgewater]

Thanks for the kind words, Don. Really boosted the ego. Then in last Sunday's club race the outhaul let go during a jibe. Dummy me forgot to put a figure eight knot in the end of the sheet, and it pulled itself apart. Pride goeth before the fall. I won't forget that lesson any too soon!