Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
Does anyone have a photo of what the aft fixture on the boom should look like? The reefing line on my will not reliably stay on the pulley. The main outhaul is very stiff. There's a (plastic?) odd shaped plate between the two has some sharp edges as if it broken. Seem there should be a keeper of some sort of that reefing line. I looked on Catalina Direct, it has the fitting but not the pulleys. Wondering if anyone has access to a photo of what it should look like.
I have the same problem and similar question. There was a pin of some soft metal soldered between the flared ends to keep the boom topping lift and reefing lines in place, but it snapped off. I am going to drill out the remaining solder and put a small diameter 2 1/2 inch bolt through. In addition to the sharp edged plastic piece, there is also a piece of stainless that can swivel vertically, with a hole through it but I don't know what would attach there.
Michael Levin Sailin' on Sunshine C250 #402 WK Lake Tahoe
I think the stainless swivel piece is for the topping lift. Is your plastic insert also broken and/or squared off?
The soldered missing pin looks exactly the same in the Catalina direct photo. It looks like a rod was there but now missing... but the new part in catalog looks exactly like what I have, and I suspect you have.
I never used the stainless swivel, so don't really know what it was for. But it is not for the topping lift. The topping lift goes around one of the sheaves and forward through the boom. [EDIT: Actually, I may have used the stainless bar to rig a block for a temporary second reef at one point.]
I replaced my broken plastic separator with a piece of acrylic that I cut to the correct shape. It was covered in this thread. Unfortunately the pictures were taken hostage by Photobucket because I refused to pay their $400 ransom:
Rick S., Swarthmore, PA PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor) New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)
Thanks for the link Rick. That helps refine what I was going to do to replace the pin. Mine broke because I was using it to hook a bungee around the back stay to keep the boom from swinging while moored and it isn't strong enough for that. The plastic separator doesn't seem to be critical as the two lines don't typically jump off the sheaves, and it sounds like they've all deteriorated over time. But I still don't know what the stainless swivel with the hole was supposed to do. I agree that it is not for the topping lift but don't know what else it would be for.
Michael Levin Sailin' on Sunshine C250 #402 WK Lake Tahoe
Just looked on Catalina Direct and they sell a "boom end casting reef line retaining pin retrofit" pin diameter 3/16 length 2 1/32 for $11.92. And they sell the "boom end divider plate" for $6.25. I can afford that. Kind of expensive for a pin, but saves two trips to Home Depot. Look under spar fittings.
Michael Levin Sailin' on Sunshine C250 #402 WK Lake Tahoe
So does the "boom end casting reef line retaining pin retrofit" install where the white dots and the red arrows are? My boom casting looks EXACTLY like the one in this photo, just now taken from the Catalina Direct site. Those white dots are exactly like mine, and hard to figure out what is going on. They are flush, they don't look like corrosion, and they certainly don't look like there used to be a pin, plastic or metal, in there.
Also, on mine, the port sheave is the reefing line, the starboard sheave is the outhaul. The trapezoid shape (mine is that same as shown on the CD site) fits between. The stainless swivel with the hole is where I connect my topping lift, through a block at the top of the mast. I've never seen a topping lift that reeves through the boom?
Mine had three sheaves at the end of boom. A very narrow one in the middle for wire outhaul. Topping lift at the masthead was a bowline around a clevis pin - no block up there.
Rick S., Swarthmore, PA PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor) New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)
Yes, the white dots are where the pin goes. I picked one up today since I live near CD, will install this weekend and let you know how it fits. My boom topping lift is as Rick describes, runs through the boom and exits about halfway down the boom on starboard side. Still don't know what the stainless piece with hole is for.
Michael Levin Sailin' on Sunshine C250 #402 WK Lake Tahoe
Michael, thanks in advance for info on fitting that pin.
I think what you are referring to as topping lift is actually the outhaul?
Best,
-Richard
No. On my C250, both the topping lift and outhaul exited from the boom about halfway back. One on the port side, the other on the starboard side.
IIRC, all this is explained in the manual, with diagrams of the tackle inside the boom.
Rick S., Swarthmore, PA PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor) New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)
Just to clarify, they all go all the way through the boom.
The topping lift comes down from masthead, around the aft sheave, then forward and around a sheave in the gooseneck, then halfway back again where it exits the boom.
The outhaul actually has a moving wire block inside the boom that increases purchase to 2:1. (I hear some racers with loose footed sail have modded this to higher purchase.) Once again, there is a polyester line that goes through the whole length of the boom, around a sheave in the gooseneck, then halfway back again where it exits the boom.
Exiting the boom in the aft direction allows good ergonomics by pulling aft from within the cockpit.
Rick S., Swarthmore, PA PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor) New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)
OK, I understand how that topping lift works now. I have '95 WB... and mine is not set up that way, and doesn't have enough sheaves in the boom to set it up that way.
I have a metal piece between the sheaves at the rear of the boom. It is used to attach a hook which is attached to the split back stays. The hook holds the boom in place from swinging and from dropping while not sailing.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.