Plastic Classic Forum

Howdy all -

So a while back, I discovered that the outhaul on my main boom wasn't working.

The boom on my boat is one of those much-maligned roller-reefing deals. The outhaul is a steel cable that passes through a sheave at the aft end of the boom and into the inside of the hollow boom. It passes around the sheave and then heads forward, to an internal winch that is built into the head of the boom. The winch has a little shaft on the outside of the boom head that you stick a crank on to tighten the outhaul. The winch has a little ratchet mechanism to hold it. There is a button underneath, to release the ratchet pawl and take the tension off the outhaul.

Problem was that the pawl was stuck in the "release" position. So you'd crank the winch to tighten the outhaul, and it would just unroll as soon as you let it go, since the ratchet wasn't holding.

So, as I mentioned in my never-ending thread about "what I'm doing with my boat", I took the boom off and brought it home. Today I finally got to working on it.

Here is what it looks like:



This shot shows the release button underneath:



The "head" slips inside the boom tube and is held on with those small stainless steel screws you see. Much to my surprise, they came out without too terribly much fuss - thanks mostly to my Milwaukee cordless impact driver. I thought for sure I'd be twisting of their heads.

Here it is after I removed it:



Looking down inside the head, you can see the little winch :



And looking down inside the boom, you can see (1) it's hollow and (2) it's dirty.



I now have reason to believe that at some point, who knows how long ago, someone took the boom off and laid it down on the ground, where it ended up sitting in a mud puddle or something. Because there is what certainly appears to be soil inside it. As I was working on the head, some mud fell out. And I don't believe it's from mud wasps, because there is no way that I could see where wasps would have been able to get in. Plus there is no sign of mud wasp nest-building; just some wed dirt.

Anyhow...

Once the head was off, I peered in with a bright light and could just barely see the little ratchet pawl, which indeed looks to be pretty rusty. Which explains why it was sticking. I really want to take the whole little winch out to take it apart, clean it all up and lubricate it well before putting it back in.

So - how to get it out.

It looks like the three holes surrounding the winch crank shaft should have screws in them, holding the little winch in, but they just look like flat-bottom holes:



A little digging with a small screwdriver revealed that, in fact, there were screws in those holes - they were just completely buried in oxidized aluminum. I scraped and dug it out and they came right out with the impact driver.

O.K., so now the winch body was free from the head casting:



BUT!

The crank shaft goes through the head to the outside, and prevents you from pulling the little winch out.

So - how to get that crank shaft out.

After peering in carefully with a bright light, I finally have realized that the winch drum is a hollow cylinder, and the crank shaft passes through the middle of it, like an axle.

So what holds the shaft in?

Looks like the steel cable itself does.

The cable disappears into a hole in the winch drum:



And on the other side, you see this:



Which appears to be a slug of stainless steel that probably is swaged onto the cable end.

So!

The dilemma is how the hell to get that thing out. The only way to get the winch out of the head is to get the crank shaft/axle out. The steel cable certainly appears to be the only thing holding that axle in.

I figure I could cut the steel cable as close to the winch drum as possible, and then use a pin punch to drive the swage back out of the axle. Other than that, I can't see how to get it out of there. It certainly seems the only way to get it out will be to either cut the cable or maybe try to drill the swage out - but it seems to be stainless steel, which is hard as hell to drill. Either way, I've got to destroy something.

I'm not worried about cutting a couple inches off the cable - it's plenty long enough that it wouldn't be a problem to be 2-3 inches shorter.

I'd love to know if anyone has done this job before...

Bill,

Is there any chance you could clamp a pair of needle nose vice grips onto the cable right were it enters the hub and try tapping on the handle to 'push' the cable in?

It sure looks like you have figured out the set up, it would be nice to preserve the swedge, maybe some break free soak might help.

(yes, I did just recommend pushing a rope) :)

I don't think that would generate enough force to push that swage out.

I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead and cut the cable.

I posted this over at the Moyer Atomic 4 forum as well. Based on the discussion there, if I can't get this to work, I might just ditch it and set up an external outhaul. I already have all the hardware I would need, and it wouldn't be complicated.

But I would like to make this work, because it is a neat and tidy setup - assuming it works as it's supposed to.

That's an interesting project Bill, keep us informed on your progress. ... Bob T.

I had almost the identical setup and found that the 1-1 for the outhaul didn't work so hot so I cut the cable about 1 foot from the goose neck fitting and clamped it on to a fiddle. I figured out how much cable I needed on the aft end to ensure I could fully extend and contract the outhaul and connected a fiddle with a becket the same way. I put an exit plate on the port side with a Spinlock clutch forward of the exit plate. The 4 - 1 internal outhaul with stay set-X and cable at either end is far superior to the original setup.

Yes, keep us posted.

Since you have multiple issues with the boom, why not replace it altogether? Find a boom of the correct length,with a good internal outhaul. Depending on that length, I might have just the thing in my spares. Holler if you're interested.
Larry Wilson

Well I cut the cable and managed to drive out that little swaged end.

And I still can't get the stupid winch out of the head.

So after much deliberation and careful consideration, I said SCREW IT.

I'm going to set up an external outhaul using line instead of steel cable.

LazyGuy - could you give me a bit more detail and maybe some pics of your setup? Sounds like maybe something along the lines of what I'm thinking of.

Bill,

Since it is internal, it is tough to get pictures but go to the Harken Website in the tech corner under outhaul (There is a lot of outstanding info in their Tech Corner.)

http://www.harken.com/rigtips/Outhaul.php

I did a 4:1 by following the 5:1 description. Since I only had 12" of cable from the gooseneck, the blocks are up in the forward end of the boom so I used a normal exit plate rather than the one shown (hence, the 5:1 becomes 4:1). I double crimped a loop in both ends of the cable, used spectra to tie the blocks to the cables and 3/8" line for the 4:1 outhaul line.

It works very well.

And the story has a happy ending.

Yesterday I bought the bits and pieces from West Marine and this morning I put it all together.

Here is my little internal "handy billy" setup:



And the existing wire rope swaged onto the "handy billy":



I had to cut out an oblong hole for the exit block, so I started with two 3/4" holes appropriately spaced:



Then cut out the bit between them:



It looks terrible in the photo, but it cleaned up nicely with some files.

After cleaning up the hole, the exit block fit nicely:



And then I realized I had it in backwards, so I flipped it and added the plastic cover plate:



Here comes the handy billy:



Which is anchored to a little eye screwed to the inside of the boom, on the side opposite the exit plate:

And on the outside, all you see is the two screws that hold the eye on:



And the line coming out the exit block:



I forgot to buy a little cleat to tie the line off, which I probably will do next weekend, when I head up to the boat to hang the boom back on the mast.

I am getting very close to being ready to re-launch the boat!

I was up there yesterday and replaced the bronze pipe that the centerboard pennant runs through, which was a small milestone for me, because that closes up the hull and makes it water-tight. So I could, if I really wanted to, float the boat right now. I need to attach the new pennant line so I can retract the centerboard. I will have to have the yard hoist the boat up in the slings to let the centerboard down, which I need to do during a weekday. I will have them to that and touch up some bits of bottom paint and then splash the boat and I'll take her back over to my marina, which is about 2 miles away from the boatyard.

Then there's a lot of interior painting and woodwork to do... (sigh)...

You should feel virtuous.......I always do when I complete ANY project.