I was told the same thing, that I could simply replace my sail with a loose footed main. I asked about loads on the clew and was told that the slides along the bottom didn't really hold the foot so there would be no more load on the clew. I believed the sail maker and went for it. It turns out he was wrong and the clew slug in the boom pulled out of the aluminum extrusion. Not a big deal, I added a strap around the boom and it works OK but makes adjusting the outhaul under load a bit challenging. Tom, that bronze outhaul fitting on your boom looks pretty beefy so likely won't be a problem but just know that you will have some additional load on your clew.