Boom removal

[wilsonlb]

My guess is that this is quite easy, but I'm 350 miles away from the boat so I can't eyeball it myself.

I close the deal (yeah!) on the 30th and will be having her shipped home on July 8. But I thought I'd bring the boom home with me on the 30th to get started on corrosion removal/repainting.

Any tricks to getting the boom off?  Anyone know its weight/length?

[jim brittingham]

THE GOOSENECK IS HELD IN PLACE WITH A COTTER KEY THROUGH A PIN.  YOU WILL , HOWEVER,  NEED TO REMOVE THE VANG AND THE LAZY JACKS AS WELL AS ANY REEFING LINES THAT  ARE ON THE SAIL.  YOU ALSO NEED TO REMOVE THE MAINSHEET ATTATCHMENT.  THE BOOM IS EASY ENOUGH TO CARRY BUT I WOULD ONLY GUESS AT THE WEIGHT AS ABOUT 30 LBS.  I SET MINE ON THE ROOF RACK OF MY CAR AND HELD IT IN PLACE WITH BUNGEE CORDS

[c34member]

The length is about 14 feet.

[Tweetybd]

Hi, Larry

The boom is 29 pounds (I just sold my broken one to a scrap yard).

When you get the new boom, you may want to install compression rods so that the bolts for the boom bails don't compress the boom and create "dimples," which could be weak points (when we broke our boom the other week, it broke at the first boom bail).  At the recommendation of my boatyard, I bought 1/2" OD, 5/16" ID aluminum rod stock and will drill-out the boom bail holes to 1/2", then cut the rods to match the outside walls of the boom.  In this way, the bolt and nut will compress the rod, and not the boom, and will spread the bolt's load somewhat, rather than merely on the points where it passes through the sides of the boom.  If you do this, don't forget to use Lanocoat or Boeshield T9.

The new boom cost about $750, including CA sales tax (8 1/4%) + $70 shipping.  The boom comes complete with everything but reefing lines (they provide messenger lines for pulling your sheets through).  Even the outhaul, outhaul cleat, and chrome piece that screws into the bottom of the boom and bolts to the top of the hard vang are included.  We removed the old boom (or what was left of it), installed the new one, and installed the sail and reefing lines in about two hours.

We broke our boom on a Saturday, called Catalina Monday morning, they made the boom and shipped it by Tuesday afternoon, and we received and mounted in on Wednesday night.  Not too bad!  This beat Bob Butler's promise by a day!

I also added a third boom bail, in the middle of the other two, to hold the Dutchman Boom Brake.

regards,
Jon

[wilsonlb]

Very helpful.  Thanks to all.

The project starts on Tuesday.  Stay tuned... (now if only I can decide which paint to apply - anyone have experience with Sherwin-Williams Heavy Duty Industrial&Marine Aluminum paint?)