Hello, Received a Boom Kicker as a gift. Read some info, seems like a great addition to our boat. Does anyone have any experience installing one? It is in the link below. How do you get the fiberglass poles to bend? Any "must do's" to make our install easier. Thanks Bryan
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follow instructions
Follow the instructions carefully and you will have no problem installing it. I installed one on one of my smaller boats. One end fits in the main sailtrack below the boom, and the other underthe boom, once you let the toping lift down, the boom kicker will bend itself under the load of the boom and the sail. As per some onstructions , apparently you do not need a toping lift at all once you install a boom kicker, but I would keep it handy anyway, if not for anything else, keep it as a spare halyard. Good Luck!
Follow the instructions carefully and you will have no problem installing it. I installed one on one of my smaller boats. One end fits in the main sailtrack below the boom, and the other underthe boom, once you let the toping lift down, the boom kicker will bend itself under the load of the boom and the sail. As per some onstructions , apparently you do not need a toping lift at all once you install a boom kicker, but I would keep it handy anyway, if not for anything else, keep it as a spare halyard. Good Luck!
Here's my experience
Bryan, I put one on my CS 27 last summer. Believe it was the 1000 model. The rods bend from the weight of the boom & sail, or when the sail is raised from adjusting tension on the mainsheet. I used the smaller rods. The larger were just too stiff (not even sure why they ship two sets, it would be nice if they cut the price by shipping only one set). I am happy with the performance. Tip 1: the instructions tell you to raise the boom about 10-12 ins. above horizontal to then measure the pin-to-pin length for cutting the rods. I found this resulted in more "spring" in the rods then desired and when sailing the rods exerted too much torque on the boom which resulted in the rods twisting off center. I'd recommend starting off around 6", but you can vary this by how much your boom weight deviates from average. Tip 2: For some odd reason the kit ships with a round fitting for mounting in the mast sail track; despite my never seeing a round track on boats larger than dingys. You have to mail this in to exchange it for a flat slide that will fit your mast track. The width was OK but the length was about 1 inch too long to fit the feed slot. I machined mine to fit, but days later I thought it might have been easier to have cut the slide in half and to have feed the two halfs separetly into the track. Good luck! Kevin
Bryan, I put one on my CS 27 last summer. Believe it was the 1000 model. The rods bend from the weight of the boom & sail, or when the sail is raised from adjusting tension on the mainsheet. I used the smaller rods. The larger were just too stiff (not even sure why they ship two sets, it would be nice if they cut the price by shipping only one set). I am happy with the performance. Tip 1: the instructions tell you to raise the boom about 10-12 ins. above horizontal to then measure the pin-to-pin length for cutting the rods. I found this resulted in more "spring" in the rods then desired and when sailing the rods exerted too much torque on the boom which resulted in the rods twisting off center. I'd recommend starting off around 6", but you can vary this by how much your boom weight deviates from average. Tip 2: For some odd reason the kit ships with a round fitting for mounting in the mast sail track; despite my never seeing a round track on boats larger than dingys. You have to mail this in to exchange it for a flat slide that will fit your mast track. The width was OK but the length was about 1 inch too long to fit the feed slot. I machined mine to fit, but days later I thought it might have been easier to have cut the slide in half and to have feed the two halfs separetly into the track. Good luck! Kevin
I did one.
Used the small tubes. (H34) Followed the instruction and had no problems. Here's a after shot. The lower bracket is mounted with machine screws, as is the boom end.
Used the small tubes. (H34) Followed the instruction and had no problems. Here's a after shot. The lower bracket is mounted with machine screws, as is the boom end.
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