Boom Q on my '85 19

[Scooter]

I'm trying to figure out my '85 WWP 19 boom. The main is loose footed and there's a shackle for the tack that looks good. On the other end there's a couple of pad eyes and a cheek block. The thing is the cheek block is about directly in line with the clew ring when the main foot is pulled tight and the same would be true for a block clipped to even the farthest pad eye. Using either there's no way I could pull the foot close to tight, is that ok? There also isn't a cleat at the end of the boom so I don't know if a block was ever used. I'm thinking maybe it's been sailed with the clew shackled and clipped to a pad eye.

My questions are, what's about the loosest and tightest a loose foot sail should be in inches of...  clew sheet? Does anyone have a similar setup that might explain how they do it? And of course, am I missing something?

Thanks!

[Charles Brennan]

Scooter, Pics would have helped, but based on your description, it sounds like one pad eye was originally for an out haul block and the other pad eye was for use to hold a topping lift line.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Scooter]

Realized that as I was getting everything put away yesterday , out haul was the name I was looking for. Most images with an out haul show it clipped at least several inches aft of the clew ring with a section of line before the block even when tight. Mine would be slightly loose at best. I'll try to get some pics soon.

[Scooter]

Finally stopped raining and I got a pic to post but I don't see the upload form. Has it been disabled?
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Wow, that's intuitive, not!

Anyway that's the loose foot clew ring 'finger tight'. As you can now see there's not a lot of room for hardware there even if I moved the block aft. Any thoughts?

[Charles Brennan]

Scooter, After a little on-line sleuthing, respectfully, I think you have your boom upside down.   

Pics on-line, show the two pad-eyes on top and a single pad-eye on the bottom of the boom.
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The clear intent being the aft pad-eye is used for a topping lift and the one in front is used for attaching the main sail clew.  The lower pad-eye is used for the main sheet traveler.
Another example:
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Here is a slightly fancier implementation showing an outhaul block and a cleat for the outhaul line.
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If we take your original pic and invert it, it more closely looks like pics of other Potters:
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Now, about that block on the side of the boom:
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It appears to be set up for reefing the main sail and seems to have nothing to do with use as an outhaul for the main sail.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Scooter]

Thanks Charles. I had suspected that the boom might be upside down but that's the way the gooseneck was assembled when I got it so I was giving the benefit of the doubt to the previous owners. Most pictures from other boats have the outhaul further aft and a strap from the clew to the boom. The angle of the outhaul in your pictures looks like it takes care of both. Which makes sense but I was holding the boom too high relative to the main to see that. Also big thanks for the reefing info. None of that is present now and that's another thing on the list to tackle that I haven't got to yet.