The attachment of my Catalina 25's boom to the gooseneck has always been... questionable. See the first attached picture. The boom just kind of hangs off at a bit of an angle. There's a cheek block on either side at the mast-end of the boom, and some of the screws attaching those blocks seem to act almost like set screws and hold it in, but it doesn't seem very secure.
I don't recall if it was this way when I bought it, but this is how it's been since we got the boat professionally moved overland from where I bought it to where I sail it. It's been fine sailing it for a few seasons, but since it's not snug and tight there's always a slight worry that it might be able to just slide off. I'd like to remedy that, but I'm not really sure exactly what's causing this in the first place. I've looked into getting a new gooseneck (second attached picture) but it's not obvious to me how the new one would be fixed to the mast. There's no holes for any hardware to interact with so it looks like the boom would just slip onto it, and I might very well have the same problem again.
I don't have a topping lift, but I do have a Plastimo boom support strut holding it up from below (similar to the one shown in the third attached picture). I don't think the boom could fall all the way off because the support is fixed to both the mast and the boom, but I'd still prefer to not have a wiggly gap at the gooseneck at all.
Does anybody have any ideas on how to fix this?
I don't recall if it was this way when I bought it, but this is how it's been since we got the boat professionally moved overland from where I bought it to where I sail it. It's been fine sailing it for a few seasons, but since it's not snug and tight there's always a slight worry that it might be able to just slide off. I'd like to remedy that, but I'm not really sure exactly what's causing this in the first place. I've looked into getting a new gooseneck (second attached picture) but it's not obvious to me how the new one would be fixed to the mast. There's no holes for any hardware to interact with so it looks like the boom would just slip onto it, and I might very well have the same problem again.
I don't have a topping lift, but I do have a Plastimo boom support strut holding it up from below (similar to the one shown in the third attached picture). I don't think the boom could fall all the way off because the support is fixed to both the mast and the boom, but I'd still prefer to not have a wiggly gap at the gooseneck at all.
Does anybody have any ideas on how to fix this?
Attachments
-
1.4 MB Views: 278
-
116.6 KB Views: 213
-
117.4 KB Views: 193