boom hardware questions

[thebee64]

Saterday as I was putting my sails up I noticed my boom isn't in a fixed pos on the mast (I've never been the brightest crayon in the box). However, the PO had a old 1/4? line tied around the mast as a sort of stop to keep the boom from sliding all the way down to the cleat. After I got back in I started looking at that connection better and it looks like the gooseneck has a loop at the bottom (that the PO used to run a line through to attach the tack and then tied it off at the cleat). While it seems to work, I have a feeling that the loop and corosoding cleat below it are probably some sort of simple downhaul setup.

If that's the case, what is the best way to attach the tack, would a fixed hook coming off of the gooseneck work? Also, are there stops to keep the boom from going to high or low on the mast? Is the boom held up by the sail alone? Should I have the gooseneck tied off at the cleat under the mast so when I take up on the Halyard I can get better tention on the main?

Also, The boat isn't rigged with a tradisonal topping lift, instead, the OP had a small hook attached to the aft forstay, is this common? I know it seems high as the boom is angled up by 15 or so degrees when connected. I'm attaching a photo, hopefully it works.

[scottyt]

some boats use a sliding boom to keep the sail luff tight, when the head of the sail is all the way up. as for what you have exactly we need a closer look, and more info on the boat would help too.

as for the topping lift, yes the "hook" is fine as once the sail is up you should disconnect it.

[xact]

The idea here with the down-haul on the boom is:
raise the main and control the luff tension with the down-haul on the boom.
Just enough to take the wrinkles out of the luff. As the wind increases then apply more tension.
The reason this is done is because without a winch for the main halyard its tough to get enough luff tension.

I use a tackle system to tension my down-haul. I cant really see what yours looks like.

[sailingdog]

Most goosenecks have a hole for a shackle pin to pass through. The tack of the sail is typically held in place by the shackle.

The sliding boom setup you have is often used in place of a cunningham and allows the luff of the sail to be flattened to de-power the sail. When raising the mainsail, you should have the line that pulls down on the boom eased so that you can get full hoist on the mainsail easily. Then, after you've cleated off the main halyard, you would haul down on the boom to get the desired amount of tension for the mainsail luff.

As for the topping lift... IMHO, that's really not a topping lift. It is a boom support hook and doesn't really have the full functionality of a true topping lift. As previously stated, it should only be connected when the mainsail is down.

[sailingfool]

After raising the main full hoist, the best way to tension the luff is to put the palm of your han on the top of the gooseneck, and push down til you like the reslting luff tension, then cleat the downhaul.

[thebee64]

Thanks for the clarification as that does make since and is a much better way than the current setup that has nothing regulating the downward force on the boom (other than the mainsheet). There was no downhaul set up currently on the boat.

It sounds like I should raise the mainsail all the way up and then have some sort of simple tackle running from the gooseneck straight down to the top of the cabin so that after the main is raised I can control the tension on the luff by pulling on the downhaul. Would a simple 3 part tackle be enough?



I never thought of the little clip coming off of the aft forstay as a topping lift, more of a boom support while the main is down / off.

The boat is a 1974 Coronado 23 MK2 with a sliding boom, right now the only boom control I currently have is the main sheet and that's located about mid boom.

[sailingdog]

A three-to-one tackle would be perfect for that...

[thebee64]

For the 3 to 1 tackle, I'm looking at a Ronstan 40 series all purpose blocks 1 single with a becket and 1 double. For the line, either 20ft 5/16 Sta-set or 8mm VPC

Too much or is there something more economical?

[xact]

That might even be a little over kill.
On my 26 before I had mine tackled I would tension the luff by pressing down on the boom like sailingfool says above.
It looks like you could put a tack pin in to hold the tack and the use the rope from the goose neck loop to downhaul and tension luff.
But the picture is a bi blurry..

[thebee64]

Can you really get enough tension by pressing down on the boom? I could see it working in light air when there's not the need for a lot of tension. Using that method, if the wind picked up and I needed to get more tension would I then take up on the Halyard with the winch? If I can find a good method without spending $$ I wouldn't mind giving it a shot.

The reason why I was looking at Sta-set or VPC was the low stretch factor. It seems to me that you want as little stretch as possible in the halyard, it wouldn't make much since in having a downhaul that stretched, but again, I'm quite new to all of this and I could be way off base. As for the blocks, looking around it doesn't look like there's anything else that is more cost effective, that is "rated" for that kind of application. Does anyone have a recommendations?

As for the camera, all of my photo's that day turned out the same way, the lense is clean and it normally takes pretty clear photo's even with a little motion. It's getting older and has been acting up lately, maybe it's time to replace that as well!