How does this outhaul work?

[ILikeRust]

So yesterday I was up working on the boat (again...).

I met a guy from a marine canvas maker to do all the measuring for a new bimini, dodger and sail cover (what the heck, it's only money).

We had to put on the new main sail so he could see where the boom hangs, to determine the bimini and dodger height.

The boom on my boat is an old roller-reefing setup, where you take a hand crank up to the cabin roof, stick it on a fitting sticking off the side of the boom up by the gooseneck, and crank away to make the whole boom rotate to roll the sail around it. (I plan on ignoring that system and install lazy jacks and just use traditional slab reefing).

The outhaul is internal. There is a fitting a few inches behind the one used for furling - you use the same hand crank - there is a steel cable inside the boom that goes all the way to end of the boom, around a block and then comes out on top and connects to the fitting that the clew attaches to. Cranking the fitting on the side of the boom tightens or loosens the outhaul.

Yesterday, when I cranked it to tighten the outhaul, once it got tight, it wouldn't stay there. It would just unwind and loosen again. So I was looking for some sort of ratchet or catch mechanism. But of course, it's all internal to the boom, so you can't see anything.

There is a metal button underneath the boom right in front of the crank fitting, and I assume that button has something to do with the outhaul crank. I'm assuming the way it's supposed to work is that you crank and it ratchets, and if you want to undo it, you have to push that button. But when I pushed it, it didn't do anything, and I could just turn the crank in either direction with little resistance and no ratcheting or catching.

So it would seem that mine needs some kind of servicing or repair.

Just what I need - one more thing to fix! Like I didn't have enough already.

Anybody familiar with this outhaul setup? Have any ideas, tips, helpful suggestion, snide remarks, condolences, expressions of pity, etc.?

[captphil416]

Bill On my Triton the outhaul was corrosion frozen. I ended up installing an external outhaul with a cleat. Also when I installed slab reefing I drilled and tapped a stop bolt into the boom roller system as it tended to rotate a bit underway. Good luck Phil

[ILikeRust]

Mine is not frozen, as I could rotate the crank and move the sliding car back and forth along the boom. It just wouldn't stay where I put it. Maybe the ratchet mechanism on the crank (I'm assuming there is one) is rusted frozen.

[Quetzalsailor]

The outhaul on our LeComte NE 38 operates by a crank on the side of the forward end of the boom. Crank to tighten; crank to loosen, but you have to pull the fitting or the clew forward. I presume the crank is geared (perhaps a worm gear?) to a threaded shaft to which the outhaul cable is attached.

The outhaul on a 1963 wooden Hinckley B40 boom has a crank on the end of the boom turning a threaded shaft; the outhaul fitting travels in a track and on the threaded shaft.

I doubt there are rachets and pawls like a winch. If so, you'd probably hear them 'clicking'. And, if so, they'd have to be accessible in some reasonable(?) way for cleaning and lubrication.