[L124C]

The Goose neck on my 30 foot boat failed this weekend. Fortunately, it happened as I was shaking out a reef, heading upwind. An hour earlier I was dealing with steady 25 knot winds. Made me think what would have happened if it had occurred then? I would have had a Cunningham on so that would hold the foot, and the main sheet would have still been holding down the clew, so maybe it wouldn't have been catastrophic. What if I had a full main up, and no Cunningham? I posted in Gear and Maintenance and got a lot of good responses dealing with the mechanical aspects of the repair, but no one addressed this issue. Just curious about how lucky I was. I'm thinking most of the stress is on the leading edge and leech. Thoughts?

 

[timebandit]

I think the first thing I would do is to lash the tack to the mast and then add a downhaul.

I might consider attaching sheets and sailing it like a jib and even remove the boom completely.

If the boat sailed well on just the jib, I would just drop the main sail altogether and fix the boom at my leisure.

 

[ste27]

The goose dies

 

[nereussailor]

You fix it

Dave

 

[L124C]

The goose dies

Ha, Ha, very clever! GET A LIFE!

 

[L124C]

Too much time on your hands guys? Go sailing!

You fix it

Dave

Even funnier! Two Jokers in one post. Thats a first! I've almost always found that members have something worthwhile to say when they contribute to a post. Thats why I've found Sailnet so valuable. I guess some people just have nothing better to do than cruise the site and make lame jokes. Very sad actually

 

[L124C]

I think the first thing I would do is to lash the tack to the mast and then add a downhaul.

I might consider attaching sheets and sailing it like a jib and even remove the boom completely.

If the boat sailed well on just the jib, I would just drop the main sail altogether and fix the boom at my leisure.

Since I was in the right place, at the right time when it happened (in irons, with the halyard in my hand), thats exactly what I did, dropped the main, and sailed home with the jib. The Cunningham, (I guess you are calling it a Downhaul), was already on because I was reefed. What I'm asking is; what happens when the full main us under load and the goose neck fails. I thought someone who had it happen could contribute, or a rigger could comment on how much force is on the junction of mast and boom in such conditions. I originally imagined pieces of sail and rigging flying everywhere. But the more I think about it, I suspect the mast and main sheet would pick up the slack.

 

[timebandit]

It will shove the boom foward and ruin the sail shape.

After you fix it you could try tightening the outhaul by just pulling on the clue and see how much push the sail exerts on the boom to mast connection.

Think of sheeting angles for the jib and what would happen if you moved them foward of the clue.

 

[hotdogs]

Broken gooseneck & bad attitude

Ha, Ha, very clever! GET A LIFE!

Hello,

When I read the title of this post, I clicked on it with the intention of sharing a story of my own that relates to the topic. I thought it would have been informative and maybe even useful.

After seeing the disrespectful way the original author has replied to two fellow posters here on Sailnet, however, I've lost interest in doing so.

It seems to me that if anybody in this thread has too much time on their hands and ought to go sailing, it's the individual throwing around insults. This is normally a friendly place to read and post; please check the third grade attitude at the door.

Respectfully,

hotdogs

 

[nereussailor]

Thanks hotdogs, you're absolutely right. Wow, lighten up L124C, it's not the end of the world, and we aren't all morons. You definitely don't need to get your undies in a bunch over a question on a forum. Here's my real thoughts. You have a couple of options that I could think of, you could lash the goose neck back on to the mast and create a Cunningham with the line that you're lashing it with, or you could remove the boom and sail, and lash it to the cabin top or toss it in the cabin, then motor to your destination and fix your boom.
There are always a bunch of what if's. What if it happened when you were shaking out the reef and it knocked you overboard? What if you weren't tethered to the jackline? What if you were in the water waiting for someone to rescue you and a shark started hanging around? If you spend all your time thinking about the "What If's" you won't have much fun sailing. So forget about the "What If's" , learn how to take a little joke, spend your time enjoying sailing, and when something happens, think fast, get it fixed and then go brag about what an experience you just had. By the way, It sounds like you had the answer before you posted. So why ask the question?

 

[Maine Sail]

Even funnier! Two morons in one post.

Name calling is not a very appropriate response to a couple of posts meant in good humor. Chill out a bit and give it time and you'll get your answer. The two other guys DID NOT throw personal attacks at you they made light humor yet you respond with personal attacks and name calling..?

You really need to be careful with this type of name calling behavior & personal attacks as it will get you banned on some sailing forums.

As for the goose neck there is no one single answer as it depends on a lot of variables. End boom sheeting, mid boom sheeting, rigid vang, soft vang, loose footed main or bolt rope foot, where are the reef lines led, cunningham, out-haul tension at the time of failure...etc.

I have had a goose neck fail while close hauled in about 20-23 knots. Because the boat was mid boom sheeted, with a rigid vang, and had reef lines attaching to a cleat on the mast near the goose neck, with one in use and under load, nothing really happened and I did not rip or tear the sail. The boom at the goose neck end merely went to leeward by about 5" and back about 3". My first sail slide was about 14" up so allowed for this. The vang was pushing away from the mast and the mid boom sheeting helped balance the load somewhat and did not force the boom forward or back enough to tear anything.

I simply rounded up, dropped the main and then fell off using only the genoa. I then pulled into the next port and fixed the goose neck and was back underway in about an hour...

After dropping the main and once back under way, and while still at sea with approx 4-6 foot seas, I slid the boom back onto the goose neck and then lashed a line around the mast securing the boom by pulling it "into" the goose neck to keep it there for the time being.

A failure of a goose neck will be slightly different on every boat depending upon how it is set up, what point of sail you are on etc. etc.. Some failures may rip the main or at the least pull sail slides off some won't. Not a exactly cookie cutter answer..

I'll have to try an find some pictures of the failure. The failure was a piss poor design by the manufacturer, IMHO, which I addressed and changed that winter.

Found the pic.

Removing the booms end casting:

Failure mode (cotter pin used for hole was to small and a poor/weak design to boot):

Working the repair in port (the red line dangling over the port genny sheet is what was used to lash the boom around the mast at sea):

 

[L124C]

Thanks hotdogs, you're absolutely right. Wow, lighten up L124C, it's not the end of the world, and we aren't all morons. You definitely don't need to get your undies in a bunch over a question on a forum. Here's my real thoughts. You have a couple of options that I could think of, you could lash the goose neck back on to the mast and create a Cunningham with the line that you're lashing it with, or you could remove the boom and sail, and lash it to the cabin top or toss it in the cabin, then motor to your destination and fix your boom.
There are always a bunch of what if's. What if it happened when you were shaking out the reef and it knocked you overboard? What if you weren't tethered to the jackline? What if you were in the water waiting for someone to rescue you and a shark started hanging around? If you spend all your time thinking about the "What If's" you won't have much fun sailing. So forget about the "What If's" , learn how to take a little joke, spend your time enjoying sailing, and when something happens, think fast, get it fixed and then go brag about what an experience you just had. By the way, It sounds like you had the answer before you posted. So why ask the question?

Huh? You've honestly just confirmed my original observation! No offense A competent driver, pilot or sailor needs to to think about "what if's" to be, well....competent. While certainly necessary "thinking fast" hardly takes the place of some intelligent forethought and planning. "What if I was knocked overboard?" Well.....I would "act fast" by starting to swim (and would have a PFD on)! Then, because my crew has practiced overboard drills, they would throw me a Life Sling and come and get me. What if I was single handing? I would have a Jack Line and harness on. ALL the result of thinking "what if". So that's "Why ask the question?". Does bad s*** still happen to good people? Certainly. However, it happens a lot faster and more often without planning. Your "real thoughts" are totally unresponsive to my question, and I have no idea where you came to the conclusion I had the answer before I posted the question. I still don't really have the answer, and wouldn't waste my time, or anyone else's if I did. Your "little joke" is so "little" I'm not sure a third grader would appreciate it! I certainly didn't when I received an email saying there were responses to my post. Only to open it and find two of the lamest jokes I've heard in a long time (probably since I was in third grade!) and no "real thoughts". And YOU are telling ME how to spend MY time!:laugher A clue to your mindset is that you like to "brag". To quote Rummi: "Sell your cleverness, purchase bewilderment". If thats the only thing you take from this unfortunate exchange, you will be the better for it. On the other hand, I honestly can't say I've learned a thing from you, and thats the reason I'm here.

 

[L124C]

Name calling is not a very appropriate response to a couple of posts meant in good humor. Chill out a bit and give it time and you'll get your answer. The two other guys DID NOT throw personal attacks at you they made light humor yet you respond with personal attacks and name calling..?

You really need to be careful with this type of name calling behavior & personal attacks as it will get you banned on some sailing forums.
QUOTE]

I question how "good" the humor was, but I don't suffer fools gladly (oops.... I did it again). I consider a response to a serious question, with bad jokes (and nothing else) to be a waste of my time. I have learned a lot in this forum and think I have contributed to it as well. I value the exchange of knowledge, ideas (and yes, sometimes humor) it provides. Maybe one of the Forum rules should be; "If you don't have anything to contribute, don't don't contribute anything". My comments certainly had nothing to do with lack of "patience" for a response. If someone wants to kick me off for chiding two members doing nothing but wasting my time, so be it. On the other hand, thank your for you informative, thoughtful response. Just what I was looking for! You have credit for two bad jokes on any of my posts, without risk of insult (if they don't kick me off first! ).

 

[US27inKS]

L124C didn't provide enough information in the original post to provide an intelligent response. What kind of boat? End boom, or mid boom? Traveler or no traveler? Loose footed main, or not? As a result, he got jokes instead of answers then chooses to call names instead of roll with it, and as of his last post is still calling names.

I'm going to go with a dead goose.

 

[tommays]

I don't think it really matters how its held on and were BUT it could hurt somebody badly in the worst case just from trying to get things back in control and tied down

 

[tdw]

L124,
You could just lighten up a tadge. OK so the "Fixit" line was pretty lame but 'TheGooseDies' wasn't all that bad. I've known a certain fuzzy moderator who's posted a damn sight worse. Not all of us can be Groucho Marx.
Think of the forum as just a bunch of peoples having a chat. Some of us scratch our noggins while we think, others let off a few lame one liners while 'ze leetle grey cells' do their thing, thankfully we are all blissfully unaware of those who fart and tug at their scrotums.
If we discourage anything other than serious comment, here or in the big bad real world, what a boring old life it would be.
You'll also find that some of the best advice you will get comes from those who inject a little humour into their posts.
Now to be fair, it was a good question and despite the corn you did get some good answers. Not a bad outcome surely ?
Cheers
TD

 

[GeorgeB]

Having given "coup d' gras" to an assortment of pheasant, chucker's, ducks and the occasional goose, I resonated with the "dead goose" joke. Now that I have the unfortunate duty to inform Mother B that her son, after six years of collegian education, has only achieved moron status. Way to break a mother's heart there, big guy.

Thinking back, I had a gooseneck fall out of a mast slot on a C30 (back in my more moronic, pre-graduate days). It was very light conditions and the gooseneck banged around the mast a bit before we dropped the sail. But as you and I sail in rather windy conditions, this has gotten me to thinking… I had a mast slug blow out once in a gale down the coast which promptly blew out another three before we wrestled that beast to the boom (do "blast from the past" BFS's count, Smack?). I'd count myself lucky if that was the only damage done and nothing serious like ripping out my fixed vang or the loose boom banging around and taking out my aft lowers or worse. Yet another thing to put on my maintenance list - disassemble the boom and inspect.

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<ST1Maine </ST1</st1:State>Sail - Your gooseneck problem wasn't on your old C36 was it? Your gooseneck looks like what's on my boat (Charleston Spar) but your coach roof and deck look different. I'm wondering if mine is held in by only a cotter pin too? How did you fix yours? L124C - You have some serious galvanic corrosion going on there. I don't know how to fix your end cap (other than purchasing a new one). But you do need to line everything with that high density/high modulus plastic film to properly isolate the stainless. I don't think that tef-gel or lanocote will provide enough protection.<O

 

[nereussailor]

Where's a moderator when you need one......And yes, I do take offense to your comments. It's people like you that ruin the forums for everyone. I really hope that no one else posts a reply to your original post. You really don't deserve any good answers.

 

[L124C]

[/COLOR]

I'm having a machinist repair the corrosion. He says he can put a brass pipe in the bolt hole and build it up with aluminum weld. I'll post a picture of the repair. I was thinking of using liquid "electrical tape" as an isolator. What is the brand name of the film you are referring to, and where do you get it?

 

[L124C]

Where's a moderator when you need one......And yes, I do take offense to your comments. It's people like you that ruin the forums for everyone. I really hope that no one else posts a reply to your original post. You really don't deserve any good answers.

You will be happy to know the Moderator actually edited my original comment (rightfully). You are now officially a "Joker". Seriously, my remark was aggressive and inappropriate. On the other hand, IMO, your original reply was sarcastic, stated the obvious and added nothing to the post. I'll tone it down, but I hope you will consider if what you are saying adds anything of value to the topic. Peace!