Any pictures of boom and gaff outhauls?

[okawbow]

How are you rigging the outboard ends of wood booms and gaffs? I'd like to avoid metal fittings on the gaffs, if possible to save weight. I will be using a laced on foot on the booms. I'll also have topping lifts. Small(32') Schooner rig.

Chuck

[bott]

There are lots of fantastic examples in Leather's Gaff Rig Handbook.

Grab a copy and begin dreaming!

[John B]

Lashed through a hole in the spar.

[Peerie Maa]

Peerie Maa's boom outhaul goes through a sheave in the boom end, and back to a leathered strop with the clew hook spliced in as a traveler.

By gaff out-haul do you mean the bee for the topsail sheet? A block with a hole through it, or a cheek block with a sheave will do. The sheave should not be necessary as the topsail is tensioned by the tack down haul after the sheet is drawn out with no load on the sail.

[John B]

A sheave and block and tackle would be nice for the boom outhauls, but if you drill a half inch hole and plunge a rounding over bit( with a half inch bearing) , you get a nice donut hole to run the lashings through, just hitch it up to get the tension right. Thats all you really need on those size sails, especially the gaffs .

[okawbow]

The hole and lashing sounds good for my gaffs and fore boom. It's light weight and easy to do. Thanks, John B


My main boom is 15' long and I may want a sheave for better adjustment. Your setup looks like it might work for me, Nick

[BrianM]

How are you rigging the outboard ends of wood booms and gaffs? I'd like to avoid metal fittings on the gaffs, if possible to save weight. I will be using a laced on foot on the booms. I'll also have topping lifts. Small(32') Schooner rig.

Chuck

My Cutter has no "outhaul" on the Gaff Boom, just an eyebolt through the end of the stick to which I lash the sail for the season.

The Boom has an adjustable out haul inline with the sail track for the foot of the mainsail. It just a small sheave mounted to a carriage which rides on it's own short piece of 3/4" bronze T-section sail track. Another Eyebolt through the end of the stick gives purchase for the bitter end (it is a two-part tackle when rigged). A boom-mounted sheave alongside the side of the boom near the same end allows the line to be turned 180 degrees where it runs foreward on the boom and can be made fast to a small cleat. Once again. I just keep it simple by lashing the outhaul to a fixed position for the season. There are much bigger "levers" to pull which have much more payoff in tuning the Gaff Sail than the out-hauls.