The outhaul on my boat will not move when under sail. The car seems to move in its track well enough (sans sail), but underway when I loosen the outhaul line, the car just sits there.
I am expecting the pressure on the sail to pull the car forward, but it does not go. Could my battens be too tight? Maybe the wind is not big enough when I play with the thing? Something else?
adjusting the outhaul
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Posted: Aug 04, 2009 - 08:41 AM
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Posted: Aug 04, 2009 - 09:04 AM
sticky outhaul... spray silicone on every moving part you can get to.. it probably just needs some lube..
do you mean your main traveler?
your outhaul is what pulls the foot of the mainsail out (for a flatter mainsail) the boom. Very few cats have a car on the outhaul(except some boomless rigs have one on the sail).
IF you mean your main traveler.. there are a several designs that will not let you adjust underway. my H18 was one. I found this to be a big flaw, as i use my traveler to de-power, and thats exactly when i don't want to have to sheet out to adjust... i had to relax the main and then i could travel.. there just was to much tension on the system to roll. I think the p18 has a similar setup but i can't recall for sure.
You can also lube the track with silicone (or sailkote), get McLube's new 1 drop for bearings.
I have to spray my traveler track down each week or it gets stuck.
edited by: andrewscott, Aug 04, 2009 - 09:57 AM -
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Posted: Aug 04, 2009 - 09:42 AM
Thanks always for the good tips Andrew.
My traveler is a bit sticky, but it does what it is supposed to, the tip on lubing weekly is a good one.
My issue is with the outhaul here is a pic of a Prindle outhaul, I will lube it up and report back:
edited by: kgatesman, Aug 04, 2009 - 08:47 AM -
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Posted: Aug 04, 2009 - 09:58 AM
ok.. cool thanks for the pic..
yea i had a sticky one of them too... just lube the snot out of it. -
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Posted: Aug 04, 2009 - 10:26 PM
Can you rig a bungie to pull the outhaul in to help move it while under sail?
Im still new to sailing so this may not even be what you are looking for... but my Solcat 18 has a large (3/8") bungie w/ one end attached to the middle of the boom and the other to the outhaul car. So all i have to do to give the sail more draft is losen the outhaul line and the bungie pulls it in.
Best of luck
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Posted: Aug 05, 2009 - 04:57 AM
it doesn't move much in average air as the bottom batten will try and stay straight, but try leaving it loose in a big blow and you'll see the bottom batten blown into a BIG curve
get some bungee thick enough and tight enough to pull it forward against the batten into a slight bow and then balance that off with the outhaul car
as i generally sail in light winds, solo on a 2man cat and on a lake, (no waves/swell) i never really need a super full sail. flat seems best for 90% of my sailing
edited by: erice, Aug 06, 2009 - 03:37 AM -
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Posted: Aug 06, 2009 - 01:14 PM
My P18 has the same issue. I've just lubed the heck out of it, but I still have to manually push it in to overcome the batten. I never thought of adding some shock cord to it to help, but that's probably a great idea. Replacing the cheek block w/ a larger diameter sheave might help as well, but mostly the metal on metal of the car sliding in the track just has too much friction.
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