#7163
Anonymous

    I am pleased to report a happy ending to this one (or so it appears as I
    haven’t actually sailed with the result yet, so fingers crossed!)
    Today I took the end fitting off the boom, which amid much WD40, came off
    remarkably easily considering it has been there 5.5 years from new. I then
    used a 3 metre length of 25mm copper tubing with another metre or so of
    stiff fencing guide wire taped to the end, hooked at the end, to pull the
    sliding block back to the outer end of the boom. With the same contraption I
    was the able to re-thread the escaped reefing line, though I had to draw
    myself a diagram to get it right, following the way reef no. 2 looked. I
    re-assembled it, found no bits left over, tested it as best I could and it
    seemed as good as new. The longest part of the job was actually undoing a
    blood knot around a shackle which had gone more or less solid with years of
    being winched up tight.
    Phew! What a relief, as usually such jobs involve me in much sweat and
    swearing and several important parts lost over the side, but this actually
    took less time than I imagined. Amazingly I was in shirtsleeves (in mid
    November!) bathed in sunshine, and it was really rather pleasant.
    My success is due in no small part to the advice I received here, so many
    thanks for it indeed.
    Duncan – ‘Fellowship’