Gooseneck, tack configuration in Ericson 27

I recently purchased a 1972 Ericson 27. It came in decent condition, with a good set of sails etc, but the seller had never actually sailed it substantially/successfully, so he wasn't really in a good position to explain the rigging. I've never sailed a boat of this size before, so I don't necessarily have a very good idea of how stuff is supposed to be rigged. I'm figuring out bit by bit, but some things are a little mysterious. I have some questions about the gooseneck in particular. See the attached pictures.

1) It looks like the mailsail tack is supposed to attach some sort of way to the gooseneck bracket; is this correct, and if so, how am I supposed to attach it? Note in the pictures I've loosened the outhaul to make the grommet match the hole.

2) There is a suspicious line hitched on one end to the whisker pole mount and bowlined around the mast through the gooseneck. Presumably this holds the boom up when sails are lowered. Is this sort of thing standard practice, or is there a better way to do it?

3) Is the grommet located above the tack grommet for a Cunningham? If so, is this something I would usually need to rig?

4) The deck organizer and cockpit cleats have an empty place marked "Downhaul." Should I be rigging a downhaul? If so, how do I rig it? (There are no unused blocks on the mast base; maybe I would need to get one.)



Starboard Gooseneck
Vertical lines, left to right: not sure, tack reef, main halyard (wire), goofy line, gennaker halyard
Horizonal lines, top to bottom: mainsheet (white and blue), clew reef (gray and blue)



Port Gooseneck
Vertical lines, left to right: Jib halyard (wire), not sure, tack reef

The mainsail tack needs an appropriately sized clevis pin.

Not familiar with the boom rigging on a 27, but seems like the boom attachment at the mast should not be able to fall to the deck if the sail is lowered. Maybe there should be a stop of some kind in the track below the gooseneck? The topping lift is another thing; if it is completely detached from the boom when the sail is up, then the aft end of the boom will fall if the sail is lowered before reattaching the topping lift.

Looks like the cunningham is already rigged. Is there a designated cleat for it on deck or back at the cockpit? I would leave it rigged and use it.

The downhaul cleat is probably for the spinnaker pole downhaul. (Or the cunningham...)

Hope this Helps

I was able to find this picture in my "archives". You can barely see the connection to the tack. It also shows the downhaul. The previous owner had it rigged to adjust at the mast as shown. I have since run the line aft to the cockpit. You can also see the "stop" just to the left of the downhaul block. This is basically screwed into the mast and "stops" the boom from lowering any further.

This is my first boat, so I am happy to share what I have, but am still in the learning stage, although I think we are forever learning!

Gooseneck

My gooseneck looks similar to Todd's, rigged with a downhaul, and in my case, a small jam cleat. There is also a round alum. dowel that rides in the sail track below the gooseneck along with a set screw that prevents the boom from falling all of the way to the deck.

Don,
After all this time the black band is still visible. :nerd:

It's interesting that when boat builders transitioned to a fixed gooseneck, a grommet was then added to the mainsail just above the tack for the cunningham tackle.
Controlling the luff tension to shape that part of the sail was still important as wind speed increased or decreased.

LB

Thanks for all the help; I've figured things out a lot better. I'm using a shackle until I can find a proper clevis pin.

There was no downhaul or cunningham rigged as I received it. One of the lines in the picture that looks like it might be a cunningham is actually a reef line.

There are two spare cleats on the mast with no particular purpose, so I've decided they may as well be for the downhaul. I tried rigging both a downhaul to the bottom of the gooseneck and to the cunningham, and found the cunningham produces the best sail shape. (Our sails are not exactly new.)

The mainsail shape seems to be much better now that we've gotten things attached in a sane way, and she seems to sail much better. Of course, our competence has been growing in leaps and bounds in all areas, so that probably helps too.