loose footed vs. bolt rope
I have a 14' cat with main and jib, the main being of the typical bolt
rope through the mast and boom type. the main is 107 sq ft and lately
the bolt rope has been working its way out of the boom towards the
dangerous end meaning its very hard to get tension on the foot. when
it happens i have to pull the boom off the sail and re-thread it for
the outhall tension to work at all. after reading about loose footed
mains i had a go at it... I put an extra fitting on the end of my boom
to give me a 2:1 outhall and it seems to work much better, but im
wondering if i need to have a slotted fitting on the boom to stop the
clew from lifting so high off the boom when i slack off the outhall?
it seems i can get a much nicer sail shape on a run with this setup...
Thanks,
Shaun
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