boom kicker
- Thread starter hunter240
- Start date
- Status
You can purchase a boomkicker from this site. A friend of mine has one on a 36' S2. Looks and works great.
Here or Catalina Direct. There pretty nice, but get in the way if you have a pop top you use a lot.
I put a boomkicker on one of my previous boats. It worked well as advertised, but.........
1. I could no longer depend on the boom as a handhold when coming back down into the cockpit after going forward, the boom just drops if you put any weight on it.
2. I found it made it a bit more difficult to reef or put the sail cover on in rougher waters as the boom was bouncing up and down.
3. When motoring under bare poles in a big chop or wakes the boom will bounce wildly up and down, the vang does not allow it to above horizontal but the boom drops down into the cockpit and the shoots up until it is stopped by the vang.
I would not recommend one to a friend, just a few points to consider before pulling the trigger.....
good luck, Bob
1. I could no longer depend on the boom as a handhold when coming back down into the cockpit after going forward, the boom just drops if you put any weight on it.
2. I found it made it a bit more difficult to reef or put the sail cover on in rougher waters as the boom was bouncing up and down.
3. When motoring under bare poles in a big chop or wakes the boom will bounce wildly up and down, the vang does not allow it to above horizontal but the boom drops down into the cockpit and the shoots up until it is stopped by the vang.
I would not recommend one to a friend, just a few points to consider before pulling the trigger.....
good luck, Bob
Installed one on my '92 H27 this past spring and it's one of the best modifications I have done. I shopped around and purchased it here as it was the best price to be found at the time. I have not experienced any of what Bob expressed so far, but I did go up one size to get the 5/8" rods and I set the boom height at 12 inches above horizontal instead of the 6 to 8 inches recommended in order to clear bimini. At 12 inch "rest" height I clear the bimini by about an inch and half when everything is cinched down. I moved the rivited boom vang fitting on the boom aft 2 inches in order to use the full length of the rods in lieu of cutting the rods shorter as the instructions advised. Installation was easy and the instructions were complete.
I put one on our 23.5 this spring and have also had none of the problems that Bob mentioned. It's been one of the most worthwhile additions to our boat. Instructions were easy to follow and came with suggested measurements to place it correctly for our boat model. It's a nicely machined and anodized product and works as advertised.
- Status