Looking for a safe option for adding a boom preventer. Don't really want to hook to the rail.
Other options?
Other options?
P42 passage- boom preventer?
- Thread starter Puesta del sol
- Start date
I use and like the Wichard Gyb'easy. I run the lines to a turning block on my jib track and back to my stern cleats. Plan on an upgrade this year to a cam cleat on the cockpit side adjacent the wheel.
Hi Keith,
I run a line from the aft end of the boom up to a snatch block that I attach on the forward part of the toerail. It has handled it fine for many miles. If I am running out of winches, I just tie it off to the stainless radar arch support.
One caveat for you: don't attach the preventer to anywhere on the boom but the aft end. I attached my preventer to the eye that is used for the boom vang--the one that is just one or two meters aft of the gooseneck. I got backwinded by a sudden and unanticipated squall gust (30K+) with a huge change in direction, and it snapped my boom like a matchstick. Then it blew the sail over instantaneously and caused the spreader to part from the mast, loosening the shrouds. We were lucky not to lose the mast as well.
Cheers,
Paul
I run a line from the aft end of the boom up to a snatch block that I attach on the forward part of the toerail. It has handled it fine for many miles. If I am running out of winches, I just tie it off to the stainless radar arch support.
One caveat for you: don't attach the preventer to anywhere on the boom but the aft end. I attached my preventer to the eye that is used for the boom vang--the one that is just one or two meters aft of the gooseneck. I got backwinded by a sudden and unanticipated squall gust (30K+) with a huge change in direction, and it snapped my boom like a matchstick. Then it blew the sail over instantaneously and caused the spreader to part from the mast, loosening the shrouds. We were lucky not to lose the mast as well.
Cheers,
Paul
I will take a look at that. Good point in the aft end of the boom. Maybe I will look at the sail track as I have seen other posts on damage to the toe rail.
I think the problem for me with attaching to the middle is the center cockpit and the canvas Bimini setup really don't want to have any lines hitting/dragging on it. Like the ideas I will play around with sample lines in light wind to see what may work best before investing $$$$
Keith, that is why I didn't set up the boom brake that Gunni proposed. Gunni's solution is truly superior, but it just didn't quite fit with my deck set-up. It's a minor pain running the lines through the snatch block and bringing back to the cockpit, but it works. We don't really do daysails, so it's a good solution for being on long tacks for a long period of time. When we're not using the preventer, the line gets coiled and hung on the stainless frame of the radar arch.
I've known a number of people that tried a boom brake, only to take it off and return it. All of them, in fact. I've tried them (several brands) and find them useless.
* Must be adjusted for wind speed. Constant fooling.
* More junk under foot, more on the side deck.
* Not a substitute for proper line management.
For me, it is simpler, faster, and safer to manage the boom with the traveler and sheet. Brakes are scarce around here (<1 in 100), and I think this is the reason. When I need a preventer, I rig one.
That said, some folks really like them. From what I understand, they use them more as a quick preventer (just haul it tight) than for boom control.
You might want to borrow one first.
* Must be adjusted for wind speed. Constant fooling.
* More junk under foot, more on the side deck.
* Not a substitute for proper line management.
For me, it is simpler, faster, and safer to manage the boom with the traveler and sheet. Brakes are scarce around here (<1 in 100), and I think this is the reason. When I need a preventer, I rig one.
That said, some folks really like them. From what I understand, they use them more as a quick preventer (just haul it tight) than for boom control.
You might want to borrow one first.
Have used a preventer for years without an issue, but most all our sailing is in protected waters, not open ocean, a distinct difference. I keep the boom end shackled to the end of the boom with a snap shackle for the toe rail. When not in use the rope is wrapped around the cleat on the under side of the boom forward and back to the boom end shackle.
Toyed with the idea of a Dutchman boom brake, but what I have works well. If our sailing venue changes to the likes of Paul's perhaps a different setup will be in order.
Toyed with the idea of a Dutchman boom brake, but what I have works well. If our sailing venue changes to the likes of Paul's perhaps a different setup will be in order.