E29 Mainsail rigging. Noob Questions.

[toddster]

Two questions about the mainsail on my new-to-me Ericson 29.

1) How is the clew supposed to be attached to the outhaul car? It appears to me that something is missing on mine.
the PO secured it with a couple of wraps of twine through the slot in the car and the clew. There is a sketch in the scanned manual that suggests some sort of triangular piece goes in there, through which a pin might secure the clew?

Anybody have any more info on this, or alternate solutions? I've thought of either having a piece made up at the machine shop to approximate the sketch, or running a short piece of nylon strap through there and grometting the ends together.

2) (oops, no pic.) There's a plastic zipper running the whole length of the foot of the sail. It appears to close up a sort of little belly in the sail. In my half-vast experience, I've never seen such a thing. What is it? Some sort of anti-cunningham? Un-zip when running downwind? Seems sort of dodgy to me. I imagine that zipper ripping right open in a decent gust.

Thnx for any input.

 

[Morgan Stinemetz]

Outhaul and clew

Twine is out of the question. A shackle is more in keeping with what you need. The clew needs to be close to the boom. You move the outhaul to adjust the tension in the foot of the mainsail. That zipper thingie sounds like it is there to take out/add to belly in the middle of the sail. A backstay adjuster will do the same thing much quicker. As it is tightened, the top of the mast is pulled aft and the middle of the mast bows forward slightly, flattening the sail. Remember, if you are getting overpowered you can spill wind out of the top of the sails--both gennie and main--by where you place the genoa car for the gennie. Further aft depowers the top of the sail. With the main, you can simply ease the mainsheet and bring the traveler up slightly to windward.

 

[Loren Beach]

Two questions about the mainsail on my new-to-me Ericson 29.

1) How is the clew supposed to be attached to the outhaul car? It appears to me that something is missing on mine.
View attachment 9283 the PO secured it with a couple of wraps of twine through the slot in the car and the clew. There is a sketch in the scanned manual that suggests some sort of triangular piece goes in there, through which a pin might secure the clew?
View attachment 9284
Anybody have any more info on this, or alternate solutions? I've thought of either having a piece made up at the machine shop to approximate the sketch, or running a short piece of nylon strap through there and grometting the ends together.

2) (oops, no pic.) There's a plastic zipper running the whole length of the foot of the sail. It appears to close up a sort of little belly in the sail. In my half-vast experience, I've never seen such a thing. What is it? Some sort of anti-cunningham? Un-zip when running downwind? Seems sort of dodgy to me. I imagine that zipper ripping right open in a decent gust.

Thnx for any input.

That zipper idea dates from the 70's. I suspect that you have an old sail. I started sailing in '76, and can say that I was on some boats with this option, but never had this on any boat that we owned. We did, however, have a "flattening reef" on our R-20 racing main, just because it seemed intimidating to describe to other sailors!
Anyhow, you guessed right that it slurped up the "foot" at the bottom to flatten that part for going upwind in a breeze. And, open for downwind.
I agree that the outhaul car should have a shackle to hold the clew ring on the sail.

Loren

 

[toddster]

Thanks. I've seen some "stamped D-shackles" and/or "rigging links" listed on-line that might fit through that slot. Most of them look a bit small for the application, and would probably eventually bend or distort under the side-ways load. I'm thinking there must have originally been a "shackle" piece nearly as wide as the slot, that would provide a much more stout connection. I was just hoping that someone might have a source for such a thing, other than having one made.

I think we'll not mess with the zipper for the time being, and hope that it holds. Unless we have a really long down-wind run some time. Currently confined in the Columbia. Near home, we're more likely to be sailing with a reef and the working jib.

 

[mherrcat]

You are missing a triangular piece with a clevis pin that holds the clew. Look for a manufacturer name somewhere on your mast or boom. (Mine was made by Kenyon.) look up Rig-Rite on the web and see if they have the outhaul car or replacement piece you need. They are not cheap and can be a pain to deal with but they do have parts for spars that are no longer in production. I saw an outhaul car there that looked similar to what you have.