Rigid Vang for the H216
My Christmas and Birthday present was a Garhauer Rigid Vang. This was the first one Garhauer made for the H216 and their first attempt resulted in a vang that was far too big for the boat. They were delightful people to deal with and sent me the reworked parts I needed. Cost is only 2.5 boat dollars and it remains to be seen if it will be worth it...but the sail shape on the first outing was flawless. I have read many comments on rigid vangs and the top comment seems to be "it eliminates the topping lift". Well, I can live for a long time with a topping lift instead of blowing 2.5 boat dollars! I purchased it because 1) the standard equipment rope vang seems a little wimpy for the boat, 2) I don't want to install a traveler (especially the ugly, "let's mess up the cockpit" one being offered by Hunter) and 3) I want better control on the sail shape. So far so good. I was really pleased with the sail shape on all points of sail on the first outing. Course it is wintertime and I'm only sailing once a month or so and it may take time for me to decide if it was worth the boat dollars. From the Tim Allen standpoint, it is an awesome looking device with SS, Chrome, neato ball bearing blocks, gorgeous line splices, etc.!!! The Garhauer folks do a nice job. My one concern is that the extra leverage might possibly bend the boom...not a good thing. I have seen boom bend with the stock rope traveler which has far more power than the Garhauer. I'll just have to keep an eye on it. The boom bend may simply be due to wind pressure and the difference between the power of the Garhauer and the stock rope vang may be moot point. I'll keep everyone plugged in as time goes on.
