Has anyone used a car and track outhaul system on their boom? If so, please provide manufacturer info.

I have a loose footed main and the clew slug has pulled out of the boom slot. I'm guessing that wear inside the slot has thinned the walls and allowed the slot to bend open. I'd like to see what my options are short of replacing the boom.

I don't think that the lips themselves have thinned down, just that using a lot of leech tension with the mainsheet, eventually works them open. I had the same problem on Mondial. Apparently this is a known problem with the Kenyon spar, because I was able to get some stainless steel reinforcing plates and then rivet them in place. Even with that however, I use a heavy-duty velcro strap around the boom to help hold the clew down. I have been thinking of grinding down the lips for about a foot and mounting a car system. The one difficulty I see is that the bottom of the slot is not flat, so a filler piece would have to be fabricated.

We first ran into the problem when we got our boat's firts modern main. North said that the current slugs they use for the clew are slightly smaller than they were 20 years ago, whent he booms were made. We cut an old clew slug off a 1979 Ulmer main, had north stick it on our 1999 main, and the problem went away. (We still keep a OS line through the clew, in case, but it's never taken load) Food for thought.

- David

I have been looking at putting a car on the boom for a couple of years now but the problem is that the hardware is too big to fit on the boom to get max out haul the cars are too long. Talking to harken the smallest cars they have would not stand up to the load(leach tension) if anyone finds a car set up small let me know.

I had a similar problem with the slug pulling out even though the track was reinforced with stainless plates many years ago. I switched to velcro to hold the clew to the boom which has worked great.

Ed Austin
Chinook

I spoke with the folks at Rig Rite who have the Kenyon spars. They tell me that this was common with the old booms, and apparently they've redesigned the boom to prevent this. But you have to buy the new boom.

Looks like I'll be buying the stainless reinforcing plates, switching to the larger clew slug from my old main, and putting on a velcro strap for security. Thanks to all for the advice!

Hey Chinook! Are you racing in the NOOD and or NA's this year? I don't think I have your correct e-mail address.

Skip the reinforcing plates and the slug. Just use velcro. It been working fine for over a year for me.

Ed Austin
Chinook

Heres an update on what is working for me. A friend had a stainless slug custom made years ago when he had the same situation. He gave me the slug after no longer needing it, he said it cost him $30 to have it made. The slug is 3/4" diameter, with the bottom third ground flat. It fits perfectly inside the track, and almost completely fills the track from side to side, but still has plenty of room to move. There's no way this thing is coming out. I've used it twice in strong winds, and once where we sailed with reefed main and no jib and still moved at 6.5 kts. I kept my eye on the slug and it wasn't pulling up or bending the slot. It doesn't appear that I'll need riveted plates, or velcro straps. The bigger slug seems to have done the trick.