Boom Height

reefmagnet · Jun 25, 2001

Dale,
Proctor (English company) made the spars for the Vegas. Boom height
varied. Earlier Vegas had a roller furling gear on the gooseneck.
Later models rolled the boom on a crank through the mast. The ones with the
gear at the gooseneck had the gooseneck on a track, You flattened the sail
by pulling down on the gooseneck. I presume by your being #38 that your boat
is one of these. As an aside the mast height was changed also. Earlier masts
had an external track riveted to the mast. Later model Vegas had the "tall"
rig with an extruded track. Mast height was about a foot or so higher.
Working sail area was 300 sq. ft. on the earlier boats and I believe it went
to 341 on the later ones. Just be sure you know which one you're getting the
measurements for and ask if the height is with the gooseneck at the lowest
position. Sorry I can't help you more. I replaced Lyric's mast (#120 laid
up in 1967) with one from a later model that was T-boned by a sportfisher.
By the way, Harken has alot of useful info on Vegas on their website. It
might be of interest to the fleet to figure out which one of us has the last
boat made with the sliding gooseneck. Walt

reefmagnet · Jun 25, 2001

Walt or Dale, I have V3233 laid up in 1978.The roller furling is thorough the mast. I'll Measure the height from the lid deck to the boom and from the mast base to the gooseneck this weekend.
I need help replacing the square drive winch handle for the roller furling. Can't find one
Dave V3233

reefmagnet · Jun 25, 2001

Hi:

Walt's information seems right on target. Our Vega #3228 has the taller rig. As I understand it the through the mast roller furling which is fractionally cranked and furled around the boom was also standard on later Vegas. Our system works well. Our mast and boom are made by Selden (which like Harken) has a great website. The track is indeed, as Walt stated, integrally extruded into the Selden mast. The fit on the sail is at very close tolerances and for a guy like me who had a 1962 sloop with a wooden spar and a fiesty bronze sail track. The trim is amazingly nice. By contrast my beautiful old sloop was an eggbeater between the contact points on the mast track. By the way, Steve Birch and our British Vega cousins offer a topping lift to fit Vegas at a very reasonable cost. Ours (topping lift) has some hardware (sort of like a mini- mini-boom vang rig) from which you can adjust a tension and trim. For me collectively, all these Vega details are great luxuries compared with my previous sailing life. We are still learning to use all this stuff and having fun...............

Jim

j.hunter9999 · Feb 28, 2011

Does anyone know the boom height from the cockpit sole with the sail fully hoisted and trimmed in (or an approximation) for a Series 2 Vega with the fixed boom? I am ordering a dodger from Island Nautical Canvas and they need the measurement.

Thanks,
Jack
Bella - V2620

dougpol1 · Feb 28, 2011

I don't know what the hight is but the dodger is really low. For one
thing the sail cover generly is maybe 4" below the booom normally. It
can't drag on the dodger or you will be replacing the dodger quite
often. My wife is making a dodger to fit the original frame. I don't
think the frame is more than about a foot tall. You need the sail cover
on the boom with the sail furled up on it and then see how much it hangs
below the boom. The boom is lower when the main is not hoisted. If
Your canvas worker doesn't know that, I'd question his know how.

Doug

vegatern · Feb 28, 2011

Jack, I'll be on the boat tomorrow afternoon and take some measurements, in case someone else doesn't get back to you. Craig

j.hunter9999 · Mar 1, 2011

That would be awesome. Thanks, Craig! The manufacturer says that they have a template and have made dodgers for the Series 2 A-V before. I just want to check their measurements before placing an order. For reference, they say the top of the dodger is 4feet 10inches from the cockpit sole. Which sounds about right.

Thanks again!
Jack
Bella - V2620

schroath · Mar 1, 2011

Speaking of low booms, I know at least a few people have raised
theirs. Can anybody tell me how they raised it? Is 6 inches too little
to make a difference and 12 inches too much? I'd really like to make
(or have made) a bimini this year, but it doesn't seem doable with the
boom at it present height. Snipp is a Series 2, by the way.

Thanks,

Jody

dougpol1 · Mar 1, 2011

Jody I don't know about the other boats but on my boat Sealegs The
boom sets level when not in use and is about 6" or more higher aft when
the sail is set. The makes a little more hight for a biminy if you raise
it the same amount when not in use. Might look a little odd as the boom
won't be laying level fore and aft but it would help with Bimini hight.
I am 5'8" and figure to have several inches of head clearance when I
install my Bimini. Doug
i

groundhogyh · Mar 1, 2011

I will try to upload a sketch of my vega from which you might take dimensions.
I made it when i was going to attempt a bimini and doger. But I have not yet followed through due to it being a complicated issue.
My boat is Good Things, so it may be under that bin. Its a pdf file.
roy

groundhogyh · Mar 1, 2011

I got all excited one night and ordered a bunch of Faria gauges.
I blindly picked the diesel Tach that has magnetic pickup. I figured you just glue on a magnet somewhere and away you go.....NOT.

The magnetic pickup the Tach is expecting is mounted next to a gear with many teeth. When each tooth goes by, it sends a blip.

On my boat, I have what I believe is the MD6A. I looked on those pdf maintainance files and noticed that the MD6B has a magnetic pickup. But the MD6B isnt supposed to have it.

Well, on my boat, the magnetic pickup is present.

Does anyone know how many teeth are on that gear beneath the magnetic pickup?

Thanks.
rb

j.hunter9999 · Mar 1, 2011

Craig & Roy - @roy: According to your drawing, it looks like the boom sits about 6 feet off the cockpit sole. Thanks for the drawing.

@Craig: I'll still take the measurement if you got it. In any case, I'm going to order the dodger tomorrow.

Its 4-6 weeks for delivery, so I'll advise regarding quality and construction as soon as possible. I'm not happy that it doesn't have handholds. However, adding them later with a couple leather reinforcements and zippers will be much easier than building the entire thing from scratch.

Thanks again for all your help!

vegatern · Mar 1, 2011

Jack From the bottom of the boom to the cockpit sole, 59"... To the bridge deck, 46"... To the aft edge of the cabin top, with the tape in the hatch slider track, 17". All measurements were made with the main hoisted and with a hand pulling down on the sail a bit, as though she was in a calm (it wasn\'t).

On the Tern, because the dodger is a "custom" model and a bit too tall, the boom is set with the center pin of the gooseneck at the black band on the mast (31 ½" above the raised mast step) but it is the tack of the main that should be there. If the tack were at the black band I would subtract 2" or 2 ½ " from those measurements.

If someone could measure the height of a stock dodger, perhaps from the bridge deck to the back bar, I would appreciate it. Someday I need to cut mine down. (Maybe Chuck would do this since Lealea has a very handsome dodger.)
Thanks
Craig Tern 1519

groundhogyh · Mar 1, 2011

Its not 6 foot. Cause Im 5'10" and that boom will knock my head off square.
Take Craigs dimensions as more accurate.
rb

j.hunter9999 · Mar 2, 2011

Thanks again, guys. I'll check with the manufacturer about the height before ordering. They are saying that the dodger sits 4'10" above the cockpit sole. That would be cutting it pretty close. I know there is a difference between the series I and Series II Vegas, and Bella is a Series II.

Jack

n3935j · Mar 3, 2011

rb,
I counted them once using a mirror and marking one tooth and then slowly
rotating the engine by hand. I believe the number is 41 or 43 teeth. Some
magnetic pickup tachometers can be adjusted for a small number of teeth, but
the ones commonly available at places like West Marine have a smaller range of
adjustment and are more matched to the higher number of teeth on a flywheel.
Here's a alternative tachometer that works off the fuel injection pulses, and is
very accurate and also records engine operation time like a hobbs
meter. manddsmallengine.com
In an over abundance of curiosity about the revolutions of my engine- I have
both.
Patrick

________________________________
From: groundhog groundhogyh@...
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, March 1, 2011 12:02:38 PM
Subject: [AlbinVega] RPM gauge..

I got all excited one night and ordered a bunch of Faria gauges.
I blindly picked the diesel Tach that has magnetic pickup. I figured you just
glue on a magnet somewhere and away you go.....NOT.

The magnetic pickup the Tach is expecting is mounted next to a gear with many
teeth. When each tooth goes by, it sends a blip.

On my boat, I have what I believe is the MD6A. I looked on those pdf
maintainance files and noticed that the MD6B has a magnetic pickup. But the MD6B
isnt supposed to have it.

Well, on my boat, the magnetic pickup is present.

Does anyone know how many teeth are on that gear beneath the magnetic pickup?

Thanks.
rb

groundhogyh · Mar 3, 2011

Thanks Patrick!
I think im good with the faria (Chesapeake series?) tach.
It has settings on the back for gears with approx 30 up to 160 teeth.
roy

j.hunter9999 · Jun 19, 2011

We have a Series II (1975) Vega with what appears to be a Selden aluminum mast with through-spar boom roller reefing. I converted to slab (or probably more precisely, jiffy) reefing, which works like a charm. There is just over 6 inches of space at the top when the mainsail is fully raised and I'd like to use 3-4 of that to raise the boom.

I read several posts on our forum about adding a track for a sliding gooseneck, or removing the roller furling altogether and adding a two-part aluminum cover fore and aft, then fixing a new gooseneck directly to the spar at the desired height.

Does anyone have a preference for any particular method? What have other people done? Does anyone have some specs, drawings, and photos for changes they've made?

Thanks,

Jack
Bella - V2620