Range of adjustment on Loose Footed Main

[Daydream believer]

Disagree entirely. Works well with bolt rope in boom (and for sails that still have foot rope, thin slidy material on sailcover works well).
Drilling lots of holes in side of boom, then adding more metal on outside of boom seems madness to me - risk of extra head damage if anybody gets hit by boom as well as extra corrosion opportunities and marginally weakened boom.

I will have a word with Hanse & tell them to re design their booms

 

[Daydream believer]

Batter still use sail slugs as Kemps did on the last one they made for me for a loose footed main - and will do on the next one. I had the tracks you described on an old wooden boom. Worked well with a slug attachment for the foot. Much better than the slide in the groove type, but not necessary with a loose footed sail.

The advantage of slugs would be that one might not have to cut slots for the reefs at the leech so I can see the reasoning. I still prefer the separate tracks. As for those that worry about getting hit on the head, I wonder how many would be able to diferentiate what bit hit them. After 63 years of sailing all sorts of craft, I have learned 2 things- 1) it hurts 2) Duck you idiot

 

[Wing Mark]

I will have a word with Hanse & tell them to re design their booms

Let them finish looking at their rudders first?

 

[PaulR]

our stackpack was fitted with our previous mainsail by being slid into the boom groove at the same time as the mainsail foot bolt rope - the stackpack being held in place by the mainsail foot bolt rope - we changed to a loose fitted main last year and rather than having any sewing done to the stackpack we simply threaded a length of suitable thickness rope the length of the boom groove with the stackpack being held in the groove by the rope rather than by the mainsail bolt rope - this saved any sewing and is easily removed at the end of the year - works for us

 

[Stemar]

just hoist the main without a slug and use a clew strap instead. You can sail it this way and see how much adjustment you need.

 

[Daydream believer]

one thing you might try, is to just hoist the main without a slug and use a clew strap instead. You can sail it this way and see how much adjustment you need.
plenty of boats, even really big boats.., only use a clew strap... no slide at the clew at all.
you don't really need a fancy velcro clewstrap - several passes of dyneema will work fine.

How is that going to work?
Surely the strap will catch on the end of the stack pack bag & one cannot draw the cover out to the full length. It will be compressed by the loop as it slides on the boom.

 

[alahol2]

Just got a loose footed main and am about to modify the stackpack. Need to add a bolt rope in the bottom of the stackpack and cut a slot for the new clew slide. Anybody got any feel for the amount of adjustment I need to cater for on the clew of the main? ie outhaul hard on (flat main) to outhaul loosed off (bellied main). The sail has a 3 metre foot.

After calculations, drawings and bending bits of string I think my suggested 9" (22cm) pretty much encompasses everyone's suggestions. I can always make the slot bigger, making it smaller would be a bit more difficult.

I'll stick to the plan thanks...

 

[Laser310]

How is that going to work?
Surely the strap will catch on the end of the stack pack bag & one cannot draw the cover out to the full length. It will be compressed by the loop as it slides on the boom.

i agree it could be an issue on some boats - but it depends on the setup

Plenty of race boats use stack packs with clew straps - very common on Class 40 and similar boats.

 

[dunedin]

How is that going to work?
Surely the strap will catch on the end of the stack pack bag & one cannot draw the cover out to the full length. It will be compressed by the loop as it slides on the boom.

We have a clew strap and a stack pack - works perfectly.

 

[Daydream believer]

We have a clew strap and a stack pack - works perfectly.

Yes!!! but the OP has not altered his stack pack yet
If you read Lasers suggestion it said
"one thing you might try, is to just hoist the main without a slug and use a clew strap instead. You can sail it this way and see how much adjustment you need."
Not a lot of point taking the slug out because it achieves nothing if the strap is still going to compress the sail cover until it has been altered. Plus altering for a strap will not be so good as just making a slit for the slug as originally suggested.