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_LifeInTheWild_ · 05-07-2021, 13:10

I removed them. After an evening to think about it, it was a great decision. Part of the problem was the location. When exiting the cabin, or standing up after turning around you wacked your head if the dodger was down. I am lucky enough to have a mizzen to lash it to if needed. I will will keep them around in case I ever get a hard dodger.

Kd9truck · 05-07-2021, 13:51

“Topping lift anybody?”

kish · 05-07-2021, 14:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuttingDoctor

I suggest you shave your head like I do. I tell folks The reason I do is that “it’s easier to put bandaids on.

Not so

Why do cats, rats et al have long whiskers.

There is an evolutionary reason why, proximity sensors

On a human level, I had a friend who sailed with me and as he moved over time towards complete baldness, his frequency of hitting his head on bulkheads etc. caused him to consider the biological reasoning for his hair and whiskers on cats!
Wear a woolly

hat!

Tayana42 · 05-07-2021, 14:23

LifeInTheWild, sorry about your pain. Sailing is supposed to be fun not bloody.

I can tell you that I love the boom gallows on my 42’ Tayana aft cockpit boat. But it was part of the original design intended for this boat. It is well forward of the companionway over the forward end of the dodger.

I couldn’t find any images online of an Allied Seawind 30 WITH a boom gallows, so I suspect it wasn’t part of the original design was added by a previous owner and was not well positioned. You probably made a good decision. Too bad your head took some hard knocks. It usually takes the same for me to learn most things too.

Djarraluda · 05-07-2021, 18:45

Without a boom gallows, you can always make a boom crutch to use at anchor!

I have a foam pad inside my sailing hat to minimise the damage I do to my head. Apparently repeated abrasions can result in the squamous cell carcinomas, so I did that after I had a series of incidents, one wouldn't heal for ages. Doctor diagnosed it as an SCC skin cancer, so needed an operation and subsequent cuddling a radiation machine every day for a month to deal with it.
Roger

Patrigo · 09-07-2021, 04:11

I fitted a Boom Gallows to my Adams 28 many years ago, with good head clearance. I then adjusted the gooseneck height to suit. The Gallows is over my steering pedestal and provides a great "extra" to steering. I could not consider a sailing life without my Gallows.
If it clouts your head, raise it ! (not your head!)

marcjsmith · 09-07-2021, 06:13

Did you have a hat on? i alwasy find my self bonking the noggin on low hanging stuff when I have my hat on...

_LifeInTheWild_ · 09-07-2021, 06:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcjsmith

Did you have a hat on? i alwasy find my self bonking the noggin on low hanging stuff when I have my hat on...

Yes. A hat makes it worse lol.

**Jim Cate** · 10-07-2021, 00:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by _LifeInTheWild_

Yes. A hat makes it worse lol.

But a thin layer of closed cell foam in the hat reduces the pain penalty quite a bit!

Jim

Alan Mighty · 10-07-2021, 01:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

But a thin layer of closed cell foam in the hat reduces the pain penalty quite a bit!

Most every workplace safety gear shop sells bump caps. Some even sell inserts that convert a (larger than your head) ball cap into a bump cap.

https://www.mcmaster.com/bump-caps/

https://www.safetyquip.com.au/produc...ion/bump-caps/

https://www.uvex-safety.com.au/en/pr...ad-protection/

taxwizz · 12-07-2021, 06:36

Can I make you a deal on a football helmet?

merrydolphin · 12-07-2021, 07:31

It depends on the location of the gallows. My Kelly Peterson 44 had them and it was a big help. Never hit my head on them. A great place for the boom and a great hand hold in a seaway. I would stand on the aft cabin top and the gallows were perfect height to brace on while underway with good height of eye. So…. It’s just a matter of where they are. Bad spot? I would go to a rigid vang.

wingssail · 12-07-2021, 07:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by _LifeInTheWild_

I have hit my head on them for the last time. The are gone tonight. The wife is over it too. I have split my head open, and today about knocked myself out. Anyone else feel the same?

Never had a boom gallows, never really saw the need because the hydraulic vang puts the boom in about the right spot and either the topping lift (which I don't have either, by the way) or main halyard holds it solidly up, the main sheet holds it in position. The boom doesn't move much in that case and I grab it every time when going to and from the cockpit to the aft deck unless I have a plate of carne in one hand and a whisky in the other (then balance comes into play).

The Boom Gallows is bloody heavy. I don't need that weight.

The Boom Gallows gets in the way of crew movement no matter where it is.

And with a Boom Gallows you are constrained as to the position of the boom. I don't need that limitation.

Yes, the Boom Gallows can prevent a boom from side to side swinging which can be noisy if I am late in my gooseneck greasing ritual, but a lashing line to the stanchion base stops that.

On my boat I am always looking for something I can remove or do without. A boom gallows is one of these things.

Rigdaddy · 12-07-2021, 07:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by _LifeInTheWild_

I have hit my head on them for the last time. The are gone tonight. The wife is over it too. I have split my head open, and today about knocked myself out. Anyone else feel the same?

As someone who seems to bang his head an inordinate number of times, the boom gallows is one of the few things on board that I have yet to collide with. As has been said above, yours may be poorly positioned. I would not want to get rid of mine.