Raising the Boom

[Hoohaa]

Thanks Nemo That would be great.
removed the Boom today and have a couple more pics.


If I raise it to far I will have to grind away part of the sail track in order to leave enough room to feed the sail in. This job keeps getting bigger.

[Pete7]

If the boom undergoing a refurb that gives you another interesting possibility. The goose neck attaches to the middle of the boom at the moment. If a new end cap was made for the boom it could have the goose neck fitting below the boom.

This keeps the existing goose neck fitting and probably the space to feed in the main sail into the track.

Pete

[Hoohaa]

You have got me thinking Pete.
I currently have the boom stripped down in my garage, looks structurally sound. So I think it’s going to get e new paint job.
I have attached a pic of the goose neck, are they usually a solid piece? If so, looks like I will have to destroy it to get it off.
Do the goose necks usually come in one piece or do they normally screw together?

[roverhi]

It's not that big a thing to grind off the sail track to raise the mast boom fitting. Had to do that when I got the new boom for the boat. Offsetting the boom from it's attachment point to the mast will require a bit of engineering. The vertical distance from the center of the boom to the mast jaws would greatly increase the load on all the pieces involved. Possible to go that route but way easier, undoubtedly stronger and way cheaper just to move the mast fitting up and use everything you've got. You won't be significantly affecting the integrity of the mast. If it did the mast would have failed when the boom was moved previously.

[Hoohaa]

Thanks Peter, I think thats the way I will go.
Do you know anything about those goose necks? I put it in the vise to see if it would unscrew, no luck. I think its one solid bolt so I may have to cut it off and hopefully buy a one which comes in 2 parts and screws together. If available.
On a plus, the precast end cap is in good nick.

[roverhi]

I must have missed something. why do you need to remove the boom goose neck attachment?? Thought you were just going to raise the attachment to the mast.

[Hoohaa]

Its bent, so thought I would just replace it while I have the opportunity.

[GordMay]

Unless you have an unusually thick extrusion, I’d use rivets rather then threaded bolts.
Rule of Thumb: For an Aluminium female thread (mast), the thread engagement of a steel bolt should be at least 2 Nominal diameters of the thread.
Hence, a 1/4" diameter (20 TPI) bolt, should have about 10 threads engaged (½" thick mast), to ensure that the length of the screw engagement will be sufficient to carry the full load necessary to break the screw, without the threads stripping (the preferred failure mode).

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Hoohaa

Its bent, so thought I would just replace it while I have the opportunity.

Going by the earlier photos you posted, it seems very small to my (possibly uneducated) mind. Can this be beefed up?

[Hoohaa]

Just a quick question. If I get the boom powder coated, it will be placed in an oven. Is it OK to do this?

[roverhi]

Painting aluminum spars is a lost cause. No matter how careful you are in the application and use, it will look like bad within a very few years. You'll get scrapes, abrasion, nicks and bubbling from galvanic corrosion around fasteners and hardware. That is using the proper aluminum paint system with it's exacting multi step process. Just watched two guys work 8-10 hours a day for more than a week prepping and painting an aluminum mast that they'd done only 5 years before.

Powder coating is a non starter. Any break in the plastic surface allows corrosion to work under the coating. Within a short time, the powder coat is coming off in sheets. Powder coating is a boon to the manufacturer cause it looks pretty and gets the product sold. Unfortunately, it begins to look like crap in a very short time because of creeping corrosion. It's especially bad around salt water.

If it was me, would leave the boom naked and let aluminum's naturally forming surface corrosion protect the metal.