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:
![Image](http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu207/ilikerust/Grizabella/SUC52912.jpg)
This shot shows the release button underneath:
![Image](http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu207/ilikerust/Grizabella/SUC52914.jpg)
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:
![Image](http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu207/ilikerust/Grizabella/SUC52916.jpg)
Looking down inside the head, you can see the little winch :
![Image](http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu207/ilikerust/Grizabella/SUC52917.jpg)
And looking down inside the boom, you can see (1) it's hollow and (2) it's dirty.
![Image](http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu207/ilikerust/Grizabella/SUC52918.jpg)
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...