Removable Boomkins on CS17.3 and CS20.3

[WindyBeard]

Planning to order a kit and start a build soon, and very excited.   I'd like it to be a 20, but may have to sit diagonally in the garage due to space constraints.   Looking for ideas and information about removable boomkins;   I saw in another thread somewhere that someone was thinking about this and referenced Oughtred designs that have them,  but that looks like a singe arm boomkin, similar to the removable bowsprit.

 

Wondering if anyone has tried to make the current design removable by some method.   Major bonus points if it can look pretty like Alan's recent photos of his!

 

Thanks and regards,

Derek

[Alan Stewart]

You can definitely do a single leg boomkin, it's strong enough (but half as strong as 2) but you do lose the added benefit of it being able to be used as rudder stops for the main rudder. Todd Stein did a removeable single sided boomkin on his 20mk3 #23 but i can't find a picture. I believe he used a windsurfer mast piece and it slid into a tube similar to the bowsprit tube. 

 

My Garage is juuuust long enough that i can squeeze behind the boomkin and around the stem in the garage if i can get the folding tounge of my trailer to make the trailer not longer than the boat then i'll be happy. A folding 2 sided boomkin would also work fine and give you both legs it could have a similar mechanism actually as the folding trailer tounges with a pin top and bottom. 

[WindyBeard]

Well I had two ideas.  One was to put an angle right in front of where the sides enter the transom, make the parts inside the hull run parallel.  But I feel like that would compromise strength.  The other would to make it so the small crosspiece is removable, such that it’s two sides but each could be removed.  But that might get in the way of the mizzen tackle.  Thoughts?

 

 By the way those smooth wide radius edges on yours look sweet!

[Alan Stewart]

I like that idea. You could do them straight where they enter the transom just laminate them from strips and form them over a jig and it would be just as strong. Then you could glue and fix the aft end as you like and it just slides in straight and bolts down. It would need to be slightly wider at the transom so they still line up with the cockpit sides to get the bolts in the same place. That's probably the strongest removable one i can think of. Bolting it on every time is a bit of a pain though. You'll also need to do like my father and I (also squeezing 20mk3's into garages) and unpin the mizzen mast and slide it aft to be next to the main mast otherwise it sticks too far forward for the garage door to close. Also a pain to do every time but worth it to keep the boat in the garage.