Tim,
I don't think it's good for the roach to clip the backstay. It's too large and should be corrected. This happens on some racing boats, but it's a fine tradeoff for them. On a cruising boat, where you want your sail to last 10+ yrs, that clipping will destroy the upper quadrant. Another consideration here is that that roach will likely work against you with weather helm. Not sure you're going to get much more of a close-haul sail point due to it, which is part of the point of a full roach with a strong top batten.
As for the loose foot - are you saying that when you have the outhaul hauled taut that the belly of the luff is not pulled taut? This is, to me, the most important aspect of adjusting the outhaul - to be able to flatten the sail. If the sail is loos footed, you should be able to haul the car out with a couple inches to spare and have a pretty flat sail. If your sail has a "pocket" in the loos foot, then there would probably be a fair amount of material remaining. Photos would be helpful.
We have a loose foot and it's great.
~A
