I finally got to work and shamelessly copied the changes to the furling and unfurling (outhaul) lines described by Peter in episode 30 ( https://youtu.be/YS1MIEcvkPs) of his S/V Silverheels series and by Jesse in
his email of May 19, 2021 and document what I did in the attached. This was all done with the mast and boom standing and the boat at its slip in the water.

The modifications to the methods used by Peter and Jesse include:

·      widening the existing slot for the furling line to accept a Garhauer exit block rather than creating a new slot for an exit block. The Garhauer has attachment holes at the sides rather than the ends and so it could fit in a widened slot. I used a cutting wheel on a Dremel tool followed by a grinding wheel to widen the slot.

·      Butt splicing (end to end splicing) new lines to the existing furling and outhaul lines. Using new longer lines to replace the existing lines would involve taking down the mast which didn’t want to do. I found a nice description of how to make an end to end splice in double braided line (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1ZpfeyXKZo) on YouTube. The method
involves taking out the core and then using a FID to insert one outer braid into the other outer braid. Turns out the strength of double braid is in the outer braid, not the core. The braids don’t slip apart because of the same mechanism that traps your fingers in the “Chinese Finger Trap” ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_finger_trap). One important note:
don’t use the simple FID sold by westmarine but rather use a Selma FID that holds one securely as you thread it into the other line. It's available on-line (eg Amazon).

The attachment with the images of my setup are in Word format so I hope it is readable
Reuben Mezrich
Pelican Cove in Sarasota and Back Bay, Boston
Cell: 410-499-8922

On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 7:29 AM Jesse Shumaker <
jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:

> Good luck at the races!
>
> On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 6:06 AM Reuben Mezrich <reuben.mezrich at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I've taken out, and replaced, a few screws on the boom and they look like
> > simple sheet metal screws (i.e. threads all the way to the head). Having
> > few mechanical skills and with a high degree of laziness I"m going to go
> > with metal screws, probably the "self-tapping" variety. I'll report on
> the
> > outcome. Probably do the work next week since our club is racing this
> week
> > (its good to be in Florida!)
> > --Reuben
> > Reuben Mezrich
> > Pelican Cove in Sarasota and Back Bay, Boston
> > Cell: 410-499-8922
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 7, 2021 at 9:18 PM Jesse Shumaker <
> > jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I decided to tap the threads because of my experience the prior summer
> > when
> > > I added more small cleats to the bottom of the boom.  That time I
> drilled
> > > pilot holes and used stainless sheet metal screws but it was hard to
> > avoid
> > > stripping them.  That inspired me to get a tap and die set (an excuse
> for
> > > more tools!) and give that a try.  I may have done more work than
> > > necessary, which often seems to be the case :)
> > >
> > > On Tue, Dec 7, 2021, 8:09 PM Peter Nyberg <peter at sunnybeeches.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I'm pretty sure that's what I did, or I might have even used wood
> > screws.
> > > >
> > > > I probably got the idea that this would be OK because every piece of
> > > > hardware attached to the mast or boom that was put in place by
> General
> > > > Boats that I have removed was attached by screws, not bolts. I can
> > > identify
> > > > with the notion that because tapping threads into the boom is more
> > work,
> > > it
> > > > must be the better solution, but I'm not at all certain that's
> actually
> > > > true.
> > > >
> > > > Also, I don't know if it's significant that in this case the forces
> > > > applied to the screws (or bolts) would be sheer, not tension (I think
> > I'm
> > > > using those terms correctly).
> > > >
> > > > Perhaps Roger would care to comment.
> > > >
> > > > --Peter
> > > >
> > > > > On 2021-12-07, at 18:49:55 EST, Reuben Mezrich wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Glad you mentioned this… I was just going to use sheet mettal
> screws
> > > > >
> > > > > Reuben Mezrich
> > > > > Cell: 410-499-8922
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>