What part am I missing here? (And where do I get it?)

I purchased my boat in pieces and had never seen it together in one piece. This past weekend I finally got it in the water. I was missing a few parts here and there but was able to source everything I needed except for a part on the outhaul. I am missing a part (or two) that connects the outhaul to the sail. Can someone help me out? Extra points if you can send me a picture of the part installed on your boat or a link to where I can purchase the part.

A shackle and some lashing with Dynema

A shackle goes into the slot on the outhaul car. Generally that shackle would be long enough to connect to the sail clew, but in your case that distance looks quite long, so I would attach a shackle through the slot on the outhaul car, and then lash the sail to the shackle using some light dynema, (Spectra).

Guy

This shackle might fit:

http://www.titan-marine-hardware.com/images/long-d-shackle-174.jpg

Pat

I don't understand the design of that car. It doesn't look shackle-friendly.

There is (was) a custom triangular-shaped shackle that went in there. I asked around and could get one fabricated in SS for some ludicrous cost. (See drawings in the manuals.)
The PO just used some rusty wire. I'm sure you could make a better lashing with some proper cord. I just went down to WM and sorted through their shackles until I found one that was flat enough to fit through the slot. It looks a bit kludgy, as if it could easily end up getting bent, but it hasn't so far. I did lose one because the pin wasn't safety-wired on.

Thanks for the imput. In my spare parts box I found a spare shackle and used that to get the boat home. I was thinking it would be a temporary fix until I found out what part I was missing. I guess it will now be considered a permanent solution.

What I don't get is the lack of adjustment in this design. The sail can't move any further out towards the end of the boom and the car can't go any further in towards the mast. It just doesn't seem right to me. Next time any of you are at your boats if you could send me a picture of what yours looks like I would greatly appreciate it.

More adjustability

Lash the car to the sail when the car is toward it's aft most travel, that way the adjustability is the length of the car track.

Is the car frozen to the track (like mine was)? is there enough track for potential movement?

A little more time for a better answer

That is a very poor design.

A better design would be to replace the whole idea with a modern one.

Remove the car and the stainless steel wire (Discard).
Verify that there is a simple or cascading outhaul purchase inside the boom, attach the purchase to a piece of 1/8" Dyneema long enough to replace the SS outhaul wire that you are replacing. Splice the dynema to the clew thimble. This is one of the easiest splices to do by the way.

Remove the sail from the boom track, and run it loose footed, use a velcro band to attach the mainsail clew to the boom. Or if you are on a budget or wish to seem really race oriented, tie up a soft shackle for it yourself which goes around the entire boom and threw the sail clew keeping the clew close to the boom. This is an excellent use for Dyneema both for strength and slipperiness.

The sail will move more freely, and your control over sail shape will make the outhaul a useful sail trim control, instead of a set and forget non functional mess that it is on a lot of 70's boats. It will be stronger, less prone to chafe, easily inspected, cheaper, and easier to use.... Hmmm that doesn't sound very nautical does it? Something better that is cheaper than the more expensive version?

Total cost for the mod done this way if you learn to splice the dyneema (really the easiest and most fun to make splice there is!), and make a button knot for the soft Shackle? Less than $40.00 assuming that you can use your current outhaul tackle that is in the boom.

Guy