shorten my cat 30 boom?

[just lucky]

I seem to have about nine expendable inches on the end of my boom. Twelve inches from the sail to the end of the boom, three needed for hardware. The traveler is on the cabin roof, about midway to the mast.
Any reason this nine inches could not be removed?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Nope. Gives you a good opportunity to get inside the boom and fix the outhaul, too!

 

[just lucky]

Thanks Stu, I think my main sail is stock, why the extra length of boom?

 

[Joe]

Take the end cap off the boom and see what's inside before you start hacking stuff off.

Where's the black line? Factory mainsail foot length (E dimension) for a Cat 30 standard rig is 11.5 ft, for the tall rig it is 12.0 ft.

Make sure you're not making this decision because the previous owner installed smaller sail.

 

[just lucky]

absolutely, the main has a cat label but maybe not the correct sail for the boat? Did not consider that, thank you. It is a tall rig, 11 1/2 inches from the sail to the end of the boom.

 

[Joe]

absolutely, the main has a cat label but maybe not the correct sail for the boat? Did not consider that, thank you. It is a tall rig, 11 1/2 inches from the sail to the end of the boom.

I'm talking about the "foot" of the sail.... tack to clew. Your sail's foot should be 12 feet long.... according to this website:
http://thesailwarehouse.com/cgi-bin/web_store.cgi?page=storeframe.html&cart_id=

Check the other dimensions also, if you're unsure.