Raising boom on a Pearson 35

[dvuyxx]

Our family is full of tall people with large heads that are easy targets for the accidental gybe or tack.

What is the feasibility of raising the boom and shortening the mainsail on a Pearson 35? What are the pros and cons with respect to safety, handling, and performance? What would be involved and how much would it cost?

[P35juniper]

As to the safety, not getting boomed is probibly safer, handling would be minimaly effected, performance would go down with sail size but I don't think it would be much, cost you would need to relocate the gooseneck and get the sail recut but otherwise I can't see any other costs.

[deniseO30]

Sailmakers can design a sail with more roach and give you about the same area of the old sail and maybe even better performance. It won't be cheap.

[eherlihy]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

Sailmakers can design a sail with more roach and give you about the same area of the old sail and maybe even better performance. It won't be cheap.

IF you have room between the mast and backstay. I suspect that with a Pearson 35 you may not;

Raising the boom, the gooseneck, and trimming the foot of the sail (in effect reefing the sail), will raise and move forward the center of effort on this sail. The result is that you will probably experience more lee helm, unless you trim the jib accordingly.

Is there any chance that you could get them to stay in their seat while sailing?

[eherlihy]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

Sailmakers can design a sail with more roach and give you about the same area of the old sail and maybe even better performance. It won't be cheap.

IF you have room between the mast and backstay. I suspect that with a Pearson 35 you may not;

Raising the boom, the gooseneck, and trimming the foot of the sail (in effect reefing the sail), will raise and move forward the center of effort on this sail. The result is that you will probably experience more lee helm, unless you trim the jib accordingly.

Our family is full of tall people with large heads that are easy targets for the accidental gybe or tack.

got me thinking of this;

Is there any chance that you could get them to stay in their seat while sailing?

[deniseO30]

So E, there is this Santana 25 in my YC and the Main is actually past the back stay.. the owner say's he doesn't worry about it and it just pops under when the wind changes or they tack.. surprised the heck out of me too. Anyways... maybe a sailmaker add a shortening reef in the sail? Some people use the topping lift to lift the boom and sail with a bagged out main even.

[eherlihy]

He probably keeps his sailmaker happy with repairs from chafing to his leach too... As you said initially, it won't be cheap.

[Faster]

With roachy mains there's a definite issue with chafe if the backstay line is seriously inside the roach. Many boats today use a backstay whip to lift it out of the way on light air tacks and gybes (These are primarily sport boats with swept spreader rigs). While certainly not a sport boat, ours is a swept spreader frac, and we got a steal on a J 105 main but it was roachy and problematic gybing in light air. We've since gone to a dyneema backstay and a whip (wire is often too heavy) and it's working well. (looks 'fast' too!! )

Another option for the OP might be to leave the gooseneck alone and have the sail recut with a higher clew, raising only the cockpit end of the boom and saving some sail area. It might look rather odd, though and might also require additional line for sheet and vang.

[Yorksailor]

I raised the boom on a Corsair F31 by 22 inches. I left the original goose-neck fitting added a second and put a small reef in the main.

All could be returned to the original positions if needed.

Worked great and protected the wife's dental work!

Phil

[dvuyxx]

Thanks as always for the insight. I'm going to start with my local guru to help me take some exact measurements for a new gooseneck. Then a trip to the sailmaker to compare modifying the main vs. cutting an entirely new one ($$$). Our large heads (mostly our craned necks) can almost picture a 6" higher bimini right now! This is project that I'm seriously considering for the end of this season.