Position of boom

[Ron F.]

I just purchased my c-27(1982). The previous owner set the boat up but I think there is something not right about the relationship between the position of the boom to the gate of the mast and the first sail shank and stop. It seems that if I need to reef, the firt reefing point can't come down to meet the boom. As a result of the stop for the shanks. When I raise the mainsail, it reached the top of the mast and the boom is set to what looks like the correct height. Somethingdoesn't seem right. Even when the main is flaked, there is a lot of stress on the sail from the boom and the first shanl due to the stop. If the gate was "closed" I could fix the apparent problem. Am I missing something. The manual does not cover this. Help please.

 

[Kevin McGrath]

mainsail

You need to remove the sail slide stop and install cover plates over the track slot opening. This will allow you to lower the slide to the top of the boom and the reef cringle. I made mine from thin aluminum strips and screwed them into the mast.

 

[Phil]

Somehow, that doesn't sound right

I'm sure Kevin's fix would work, but why should we have to do that? I have a C27 tall rig with exactly the same problem as Ron. There were no reefing lines attached when I bought the boat last winter, so I set up for jiffy reefing according to the manual (that I recently bought from Catalina Direct). Maybe I did not pull the forward reefing line hard enough. With jiffy reefing, a line is secured to a padeye on the port side of the boom, the line passes through a reefing grommet, and the line is secured to a cleat on the starboard side. If I had pulled harder, this would have lifted the the boom so that the gooseneck meets the sail track stop and it would probably have looked right. Is this the way it's supposed to be done?Phil DeckerS/V Catmandu

 

[Keith Branton]

Boom Position

I had exactly the same problem and cured it by making a mast gate to close the slot.