Boom vang with boomkicker question

[kito]

Some of you may know that I have been restoring my Hunter 30 for the last couple years. I am at the point now where I am laying out my rigging. I want to run the main halyard, reef line and boom vang line back to the cockpit. I am taking the mast mounted winch off and mounting it to the port side cabin top. I will be running the main halyard and reef line through stand up blocks at the mast base and then to an organizer, double rope clutch and then to the winch. On starboard will be my soft boom vang that will be attached to an eye mounted through the deck at the base of the front of the mast. I plan on running the vang's line to an organizer and back to a single rope clutch. My question is, do you think a winch will be required to adjust the vang especially with a Boomkicker installed? If so, I need to start looking for a winch . My experience is only on my C22 and to be honest, I have never felt the need to grind on a winch on that boat. Your help and an any other advice would be appreciated.

 

[Jackdaw]

Your vang should ALWAYS be a hand load, and be held by a cam cleat and not a clutch. Safety. Downwind, blowing the vang can save a round-up.

If needed, it is very easy to double the power on a vang by adding block and a length of dyneema. A great mod for any boat.

 

[kito]

Your vang should ALWAYS be a hand load, and be held by a cam cleat and not a clutch. Safety. Downwind, blowing the vang can save a round-up.

If needed, it is very easy to double the power on a vang by adding block and a length of dyneema. A great mod for any boat.

Thanks Jackdaw. Great info!

 

[Jackdaw]

Here's what I mean about the 2x vang.

A standard 4:1 vang is detached from the boom and attached to a length of dyneema and starts at the mast base and runs through a good sized block on the boom where the vang was attached and down to the vang. That doubles the power of the vang to 8:1. Like in this picture. With boomkicker. Vang control terminates in an extreme angle fair lead on a harken camcleat.

 

[kito]

Thanks again Jackdaw. Cool picture btw!

 

[Jackdaw]

Thanks again Jackdaw. Cool picture btw!

Thanks. Here's what I mean about vang control downwind.

In this picture we're going downwind in 20 knots, the main is out and for max performance the boom is level with the waterline. Like this the main is VERY POWERFUL, and a good puff can overload the main and force the boat to round up; a very nasty thing in particular with a kite up. Blowing the vang adds huge twist to the main and lets the excess pressure spill over the top of the sail. In this mode our pit-person (3rd from the transom) has the vang control in his hands at all times. With the extreme angle fairlead on the camcleat he can do this while sitting on the windward rail!

 

[weinie]

Plus, dumping the vang gets the boom out of the water when broached.
Just blowing the mainsheet does nothing as the water pushes the end of the boom aft.

 

[kito]

Have you had failures using rope clutches or do you like cam cleats for faster cleating/uncleating? I was going to ask you why not a rope clutch but I understand now from your last picture.

 

[Jackdaw]

Have you had failures using rope clutches or do you like cam cleats for faster cleating/uncleating? I was going to ask you why not a rope clutch but I understand now from your last picture.

To be clear, clutches in general will have much more holding power than a camcleat, and last longer without service. But the huge disadvantage them in this application is that you have to touch it to let line out, and that particular action takes quite a bit of time. A camcleat however can be released very quickly and while sitting quite away from it. That's why I recommend them for vangs. On our boats that vang can be blown from anywhere in the cockpit.

One other quick point... the 8:1 would be plenty for your Hunter 30. Our First 260 has the exact same sized main, and our vang gets plenty of use on its 8:1. Its perfect.