To attach the sail to the boom, one must feed the boom
through a sleeve at the foot of the sail. You cannot do so from the tack end of
the boom, because the furling drum is far too large to pass through the sleeve.
Likewise you cannot slide the boom through the sleeve from the clew end of the
boom unless you first remove the fitting to which the mainsheet and topping
lift are attached. The fitting can rotate around a bolt that is set into the
clew end of the boom.
Before I had the sail repaired by Jeckells I had to first
take it off the boom; therefore I had to remove the retaining bolt. I had
to forcefully unscrew it from the boom, and in so doing, break the bond between
it and the boom.
After replacing the sail, I had to renew the bond, but
instead of doing it with proprietary epoxy filler, as I believe originally was
the case, I made my own with West Epoxy and colloidal silica. The air
temperature today was less than 15 degrees Celsius which is the minimum for
carrying out epoxy work; therefore I warmed the locality by using my mini blow
heater. Six hours after preparing and applying the epoxy it was well and truly cured.
Whatever forces may be imposed upon the fitting, and these
could be considerable, I’m hopeful the bond will hold firm.
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