Choice of boom connection

[Andrew]

Hi All

While I'm sat here waiting to collect enough money to purchase the wood for the hull sides I've been contemplating some more mods for VAZTR.

Does anyone have any thoughts (one way or the other) on having a boom with jaws as opposed to the regular goose neck fitting? Would I have to make the boom heavier to make this happen or could I fit a 'boom vang???' to the cabin roof. Or is this just waaay tooo much hassle to even start contemplating? :?

Thanx

Andrew

[Barry Pyeatt]

A heavier boom is both a blessing and a potential hazard. But having said that, I made my boom from a 2X3 vert grain Doug fir. It has weight and strength. I plan on loose footing the main and the weight will help. A set of boom jaws is very traditional and only a little more difficult to work with.

I will also be using a horse on the transom to help control the boom better.

That is being fabricated with a 36" stainless grab bar bent to match the curves of the rear deck/transom. I will use a stainless ring from an old bridle of my daughters to mount the block on for the boom.

I've never felt that a vang is needed for good control with this type of sail configuration and difficult to setup to work well with smaller boats.

[Dave R1]

I used a piece of red oak stair rail stock for my boom. I had all these plans to make one from scratch but as I got down to the wire, I settled on the easy way. As it turned out, the stair rail stock is nice. It's a bit heavier than fir or pine and the flat surface on the bottom made it easy to attach the eye straps for the mainsheet blocks.

As for goose necks, I went with one from Glen-L. It wasn't that much money and it was a known entity.

I thought about jaws--sometimes still do-- dut decided against them. I didn't want to rig a downhaul or a vang and jaws can be noisier. The plus to jaws is that you could raise the boom when at anchor or docked to get some additional head room. But then you need to rig some method for lifting the boom at the throat. With my topping lift I can raise the boom enough to give me all the head room I could want in the cockpit.

One thing I did that helps obviate the need for raising the boom much is to add 3' to the mast height and move the boom up some. (Seems to me I was supposed to measure that for someone--Jan?--and forgot. Oops.) I can sit in the cockpit or on the box inside the companionway normally and not get whacked in the brain-bucket when the boom goes by.

[TexasPhil]

I like the boom jaw idea too.

I believe this is a picture of such a deal... with a small platform to hold it up when the sail is lowered.

Adding a boom vang and/or a down haul would probably be a good idea, unless you added a platform above the jaws to keep it from rising up to far. That would give it a channel in which to move around. You would need to give it enough play to be able to raise up some or something will give way.... usually causing breakage (and always the part that is most difficult to repair)

Barry, why do you make your daughter wear a bit? And what's with the horse on the transom?

You might want to seek professional help!

[Barry Pyeatt]

It could have been an old halter, but I might have more trouble explaining that. :roll:

Split snaffle with large rings for the reins to attach to. They were in fashion at horse shows for awhile.

[SeaEagle]

I'm going the boom jaws route myself.

I plan on having a loose footed main and plan on having a tricing line to sabotage the main sail. This will also allow me to lift the boom when not sailing - good for boom tents etc (with a topinglift aft and the tricing line for'ard the boom tent can be as high as you want!).

A tricing line can be setup to act as both a trice and and a downhaul. All you need is an extra snatch-block or open check block at the base or side of the mast. In this configuration you don't need to worry about downhauls etc., (I could draw a diagram if anyone is interested.

I understand that this setup benefits from having a heavy boom - provided you ensure that your clews etc are well reinforced (necessary with a loose-footed main anyway).

Hope this helps

[Andrew]

Dear Mr Eagle

Draw away - I have no idea what your talking about but it sounds intriguing

Thanx

Andrew

[Konrad in Lincoln]

Boom jaws would be neat, and probably no more or less work than the gooseneck. (I did the gooseneck). Jaws would be more traditional, I suppose.

On the Vacationer, I did the boom as per the prints, but honestly it could probably be scaled down a little. I think it's a little on the heavy side, and you'd be surprised that it really doesn't take much load. At least not in my catamaran-filtered eyes, it's not a big load. You should see the cool 7:1 mainsheet blocks that go on a Nacra 7.0. Neato, but spendy.

[SeaEagle]

Andrew,

A trice allows a loose footed main sail to be gathered up the mast towards the gaff, (this is sometimes called tricing up or sabotaging or scandalising the main). A trice uses a block located either on the bottom of the gaff jaws or above the gaff on the mast. I plan on using a double block above the gaff on the main (one to be used for the trice and one for a topping lift.

My (basic) drawing shows the main set normally (using a snatch block at the base of the mast), with the main sabotaged (triced up), and with the boom raised using both the trice and a topping lift.

You will notice I'm not an artist

Hope this helps.

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[TexasPhil]

You can pretty much do the same (spillage wise) by droping the gaff.

Has anyone given any thought to a boom-less rig?

Just the next logical step after a loose-footed sail.