A new design boom cover - am I missing something ?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

I have threatened to do something like this many times on our boat, then my wife says "what are you thinking" and we go sailing and I forget about it for another year. I like the idea of a solid, more widely placed attachments for the lazy jacks, but if you are going to all the trouble and expense mainly for decreased windage in the marina you may find the cost:benefit ratio fairly high. You can use your CAD program to calculate the windage decrease gained by lowering the profile of the main a bit. I think you will find that, after you add the windage of the hulls, cabin, mast and rigging, the percentage decrease in windage will be quite small.
On the other hand, you sound pretty jazzed about the project, so never mind me and have fun. Look forward to seeing the results.

Thanks Mike

You are probably right about the noticeable benefits but it should drop from 4sqm to 1 in an overall of maybe 50ish (just a wild guess on the high side) that's 6% and I hope a bit more through its height above the waterline and it's lack of aerodynamic design. I leave the bag up when sailing and 4sqm is a lot of sail area not used well and I get blown around a lot in the marina (a light boat for its size)

It started from a quote for $2500 to buy a new sail bag so I thought about alternatives. I expect this should save me over $1,000, that's a lot of rum. Not just the money I hope to add performance.

And maybe more importantly, it's a bit of fun. :-)

[Sos]

Hi Dave,


Any progress with this project?


Cheers, Steve

[Privilege]

I'm following this thread as I also want to build a hard bag for my boom. It's a nuisance to remove the cover at the head of the sail and to unzip the bag and even more so to put it back together at the end of the day. As my main is fully battened I don't think that there has ever been a time where I have raised the main without it catching the lines which always makes it a two-person job. The easier it is to use the more I will use it!

Many of the Antares boats have them...

antares.jpg Views: 252 Size: 403.1 KB ID: 175428" style="margin: 2px" />

[Sos]

Many of the Antares boats have them...

Attachment 175428[/QUOTE]


Do you know what sort of cover they have?
Is it left on the boom or does it just fit over the hard boom?

[Privilege]

I went ahead and built myself a hardbag. I made it from 1/4” divinycel so despite its size, it’s very light. The only two downsides that I could think of was A) Added windage and B) The fact that I couldn’t loosen the foot of the main. However, with the sail down in a bag it has practically the same windage and a number of sailors on the forum have suggested that you should never loosen the foot on a fully battened mainsail. As I never loosen the foot anyway that’s not caused any issues. I’ve been sailing a couple of times now and I’m very happy with my new bag.

[Lambretta]

that is one VERY impressive piece of workmanship ...... of which you can be most proud ........ well done
It really looks stunning
I think you can now take the next five minutes off

[MartinR]

Originally Posted by Privilege

I went ahead and built myself a hardbag. I made it from 1/4” divinycel so despite its size, it’s very light. The only two downsides that I could think of was A) Added windage and B) The fact that I couldn’t loosen the foot of the main. However, with the sail down in a bag it has practically the same windage and a number of sailors on the forum have suggested that you should never loosen the foot on a fully battened mainsail. As I never loosen the foot anyway that’s not caused any issues. I’ve been sailing a couple of times now and I’m very happy with my new bag.
]

This is beautiful. One question. How is this attached to the aluminium boom?

[Sos]

Very well done - quality work!

[Privilege]

Originally Posted by MartinR

This is beautiful. One question. How is this attached to the aluminium boom?

Thanks guys. You can't see it in the photo's but I have three dyneema strops around the boom which go inside the hard-bag for my reefing points. They are secured in place by pad-eyes which are screwed into the boom through the fiberglass of the bag. This prevents the bag from lifting off the boom although, to be honest I don't think that it needs them. I glassed the bag straight onto the boom with polyester resin and it doesn't seem to move anyway but better safe than sorry!

[a64pilot]

Yours looks a lot better than the Antares one.

[RGN]

I was fully prepared to hate this... But I can't! That looks great and is very well executed. Nice workmanship.

[fxykty]

Beautiful job. Looks like a lot of windage when the sail is up but if it works well for you then awesome.

I’m going to consider a hay rack as was shown earlier in the thread. Supports the lowered or reefed sail better than just the stack pack, provides end plate effect, widens the lazy jack lines, and has very little windage. Still requires a stack pack, which I remove during passages. I’ve got bars on the back half of my boom, but I’d like them all the way forward and solid to better support the sail. A place to sit is a nice bonus.

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by Sos

Many of the Antares boats have them...

Attachment 175428

Do you know what sort of cover they have?
Is it left on the boom or does it just fit over the hard boom?[/QUOTE]The boom of an Antares 44 is made of aluminum and is below the fiberglass contraption you see. The cover is split in two halves, each of which is attached to one of the edges of the contraption.