Rigging the outhaul for the new Boom Sleeve/Clew Hook

I don't use any lubrication, but have the return bungee. No problem and I sail at least twice a week. Maybe your lube got dirty and is actually causing friction?
 
McLube doesn't really hold dirt -- it's not like spraying on lithium grease or something. And you need to do frequent re-applications no matter what. I'd applied a fresh coat on the day I started having problems.

This is mechanical failure.
 
McLube doesn't really hold dirt -- it's not like spraying on lithium grease or something. And you need to do frequent re-applications no matter what. I'd applied a fresh coat on the day I started having problems.

This is mechanical failure.

Actually, I was surprised when a college sailor told me that McLube does gum up. It would be worth a shot cleaning the end of the boom and the inside of the sleeve.
 
Update: I'm one of the guys who's been using the clew sleeve successfully. But after a little more than a year of the use of the clew sleeve, I have to abandon it.

As noted above, my initial impression was that you just needed to lube it for it to work right.

But under about a year of normal "Laser" usage mine has now decided that it won't release under any load at all, even when properly lubed up. I inspected it carefully and I see that it has acquired a tiny bit of a twist/bend in one of its flanges, so small you'd never notice if you weren't looking for it. I assume this is the cause of the problem.

Rather than order a replacement, I'm now going to get a harken clew hook and rooster clew strap.

You're not the first! Search for posts by Raymie on Outhaul Sleeve Thingy and you will see how disenchanted a mechanical engineer became with said piece of technology. Suffice to say he now uses the same clew strap as you do!

Al.
 
You are right Al, Raymie was really aggitated with the "clew thingy thing," he found a use for it
on his motorcycle. He now uses the Rooster clew strap.
 
I can appreciate that everyone's experience is different... in my case, if I take it off occasionally and clean the inside and the boom, then use some silicon spray of some type, then it works fine for me. No bungey required either (thank you SF Bay!).

Still, issues like this make great feedback for the ILCA Technical Officer. You shouldn't hesitate to let him know of your issues (or non-issues) with these things.
 
This is all good feedback. It would be good to get more, so that we can form an opinion on whether these are a few isolated problems or, it is more serious than that. If it is serious, then we will invite the manufacturer/inventor to help solve the problem with us. For this to work we need more feedback - both good and bad. So if you are a user of the sleeve I would encourage you to post a comment.

For my part I did use the sleeve for a while and found that to make it reliable I had to use silicon spray or it would stick in both directions. I now use either a web strap or a teflon tube covered tie line. I just find having to use a silicon product as an additional rigging step an annoyance.
 
Woe is me for I have unjustly defamed the clew sleeve.

I was rigging last night and examining the setup. The sleeve wouldn't slide in even while unloaded in my hand.

I looked further out on the boom, and found the outhaul primary line was wedged into the (enlarged) gap between the boom and the clew fairlead. I need to clamp down the clew fairlead and re-rivet it.
 

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