Outhaul & cunningham rigging

J

john1040

New Member
I just started sailing a Laser last month. The boat I have belongs to a friend who sail I could use it if I keep it in my driveway. I have bought a outhaul and cunningham upgrade kit. Comming from the keelboat world I am amazed that I will have to tie that slippery little rope to the outhaul block everytime I want to sail the boat and the same thing for the outhaul. Why can't we use a cunningham hook and and small shackle for the outhaul? Is this a knot tying contest or what. How do you guys rig your boats?
 
I made a loop with a shaved down small ball at the end of the line that can fit through the tack. The loop passes through the top of the double block and the ball goes through the loop to secure the block.

Saw this little trick from Heinz Grauber, great grand master extrodinaire.
 
john1040 said:
I just started sailing a Laser last month. The boat I have belongs to a friend who sail I could use it if I keep it in my driveway. I have bought a outhaul and cunningham upgrade kit. Comming from the keelboat world I am amazed that I will have to tie that slippery little rope to the outhaul block everytime I want to sail the boat and the same thing for the outhaul. Why can't we use a cunningham hook and and small shackle for the outhaul? Is this a knot tying contest or what. How do you guys rig your boats?
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I bought an extra micro block and a "dinghy clew hook". Clew hook is attached to the bail of the micro block, and then dinghy clew hook is tied to the boom just as you would normally tie the clew of the sail to the boom.

The skinny outhaul line (a.k.a. "primary") starts with a knot tied to the outhaul fitting on the boom, then forward to the micro block, back, through the outhaul fitting, and forward to where it's tied onto the becket of the double block that's at the aft end of the heavier outhaul line. Whole works stays tied at all times, and stays on the boom at all times; the clew of the sail hooks and unhooks easily from the hook when the outhaul is eased, and stays secure when the outhaul is tight. I've been assured by reading and asking that this is all class legal.
 
I miss-read the initial post, I thought you were talking about the cunningham and the ball and loop is for attaching the sail to the cunningham so that the rigging can be left on the mast.

As far as the outhaul I use the Harken dinghy clew hook with a micro block attached. It saves so much time rigging and de-rigging
 
John,

I'm in the same boat as you (no pun intended). I have just started sailing the Laser and rigging and unrigging everything is a real pain. Hopefully we can get some good advice from your post and start enjoying our boats more.

Another thing is I can never remember on how to fold up my sail. Any links to instructions?

John
 
For quick rigging/unrigging with the new rigging:

Clew - use the Harken clew hook
Cunninham - ball arrangement listed above is fast, two half hitches are pretty quick to tie as well

De-rigging - If you can leave the spars on the boat - Disconnect clew from clew hook, Disconnect vang at boom, untie cunningham, remove line thru sail. Ease Cunningham and outhaul to max ease (no need to untie anything) - Lift mast, let butt go towards bow. At this point you can either leave sail on mast or remove and remove top section.

With the above methods, I can have my mast down in under 2 minutes (less if the bugs are really biting) Rigging up is about the same.

Search the threads on this site for info on clew hooks if you need more info, and check the drLaser site for more tips
 
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