Outhaul block rivited directly to boom

1

189402

Chris
Hi everyone,

My newish Laser (189402) has a block riveted to the front of the boom (port side). I guess this is used to take the outhaul down to the deck block. This is how I rigged it and it works really well, but I'm wondering if this is legal as all other Lasers I have seen have the block tied around the mast at gooseneck level. Can anyone please tell me if this is illegal ?, I don't want to take it off and tie it on of it's OK to leave it riveted to the boom.

Also, the cunningham is rigged using two blocks attached to the deck fitting, again I'm wondering if this is legal, I suspect that only one block is allowed here and I will need to remove it and tie it around the bottom of the mast instead ?

Many thanks,
Chris
 
http://www.laserinternational.org/rules/Current%20Rules.pdf

In both cases, it's illegal.

The first one is clearly covered by 3.a.vi.

The second one is covered by 3.b.vii.a and 3.e.iii and 3.e.iv. The wording could be better, but what the rules indicates is that two pulleys are permitted to be mounted on the deck block fitting, one pulley is dedicated to the outhaul and one pulley is dedicated to the cunningham, you cannot use both pulleys for the cunningham and run the outhaul on the boom. From a safety aspect, you're putting a large load onto that plate and it may cause the screws holding the plate to rip out of the deck. There are better locations for the second pulley in your cunningham system attached to the vang tang or vang bottom block.
 
well there is a proposed rule change to make outhaul systems like this leagle. There is a theard on these changes in the class politics forum. Personsally, i like to be able to remove my blocks from my system, i dont know why, but hey, whatever floats your boat!
 
No such change is in the pipeworks, nor is it likely to occur as the last thing the class wants seems to be people drilling holes in their own mast/boom sections to add a new fitting.

The change which has been proposed and we'll shortly be able to vote on relates to being able to bolt a pulley onto the side of the gooseneck fitting, utilising the existing holes in that fitting. Currently this pulley needs to be shackled, clipped, hooked or tied into that location. The proposed rule change is merely an extention of how the pulley is attached to the gooseneck fitting.
 
oh woops! i should really read things more carefully!! i dont think that a block rivited to the boom is such a hot idea...
 
Yes neither do I. I think it its good to be able to change your setup for second hand boats and also if you change your mind.

I think the one design is working well to keep the laser simple - outhaul, cunningham, downhaul, all easily attached. I hope it stays this way.
 
matt182763 said:
oh woops! i should really read things more carefully!! i dont think that a block rivited to the boom is such a hot idea...
Click to expand...

Strangely enough I disagree.

While I think the laser should be kept simple and one design. I thought when the new control line systems were introduced, that the systems did not bring the boat into the 21st century. We had the opportunity to upgrade the control line systems and "one design" them, to have something that worked very efficiently that everyone would be happy with, or they could use the old restricted set up without pulleys. One of the things I might have done was possibly pulleys riveted to the boom or may be running the outhaul inside the boom. I still believe we received a very compromised control line system because of the existing fittings, which we could having more thought into the process, come up with something significantly better.
 
one thing about that system, that if something breaks, which it will over time, it will be harder to replace. Say your rivit pops out of the boom, which is keeping your outhaul together, then what? this is alot harder to fix than a line breaking. your stuck in the middle of a race with no way fix it, and have to call it a day and head in. If that rivet repair happens one time too often aswell, the hole wont take the rivet anymore, you cant exactly just flip over the boom without re-doing all your fittings!
 
AlanD said:
Strangely enough I disagree.

While I think the laser should be kept simple and one design. I thought when the new control line systems were introduced, that the systems did not bring the boat into the 21st century. We had the opportunity to upgrade the control line systems and "one design" them, to have something that worked very efficiently that everyone would be happy with, or they could use the old restricted set up without pulleys. One of the things I might have done was possibly pulleys riveted to the boom or may be running the outhaul inside the boom. I still believe we received a very compromised control line system because of the existing fittings, which we could having more thought into the process, come up with something significantly better.
Click to expand...

Heh... I had a thought the other day about why the outhaul lines were not inside the boom as well... interesting. Good post, I agree that there might have been a bit more thought put into adapting the (not so) new controls to the existing fittings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top