Galvanic corrosion around boom bail

[Jim Cate]

I'll add my recommendation to scrap the whole bail (bale?) and use a strop. Cheap, easy to make and replace when needed, no corrosion at all, better load distribution... why would you go back to a system that has shown itself to be inadequate?

Jim

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I'll add my recommendation to scrap the whole bail (bale?) and use a strop.

Very definitely bail.

The word was used in nautical English in 1529, for half-hoops or half-circles of metal used in rigging awnings over passengers and cargo on a barge or other vessel. In 1529, the orthography was bayle.

You can follow the word back into Middle English fairly easily:

Middle English 1467 beyl, a half-circle of metal forming the handle of a kettle;

Middle English 1447 beyl, a hoop of gold worn as an ornament around an arm;

Most likely ancestors of the Middle English words are:

Old Norse beygla, the ring, hoop (or half hoop) forming the guard of a sword handle;

Old Norse beygja, to bend, to form into an arc, to dent;

proto-Germanic *bugon, an arch, a bend/something that is bent or curved, an archer's bow;

proto-Germanic *beugan, to bend into an arc;

proto-Indo-European (about 30,000 BCE) *bheug, to bend something.

Other nautical words descending from PIE *bheug include bight.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Other nautical words descending from PIE *bheug include bight.

And you might remember the Bügelanker that Rolf Kaczirek designed in 1986 and patented in 1987.

When first introduced to the Anglophones, Bügelanker was translated as "hoop anchor" or "bow anchor" (bow as in archer's bow, not one of the bows of a boat).

That literal translation was later overtaken by "roll bar anchor." It could have just as well been called a "bail anchor."

[davil]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I'll add my recommendation to scrap the whole bail (bale?) and use a strop. Cheap, easy to make and replace when needed, no corrosion at all, better load distribution... why would you go back to a system that has shown itself to be inadequate?

Jim

Like to use it on my boom for the new vang system,what material have you used,how do you keep it in place so will not slide and how to manage the slides on main sail foot?
A photo will be very nice
thanks

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by davil

Like to use it on my boom for the new vang system,what material have you used,how do you keep it in place so will not slide and how to manage the slides on main sail foot?
A photo will be very nice
thanks

g'day Ryban,

I usually use two inch nylon webbing, the kind sometimes called "seat belt webbing", but dacron or spectra reinforced webbing would be even better. On smaller boats, any such will be way overkill for strength. On our boat, with it's nearly 600 sq ft mainsail, I use three wraps and hand stitch the ends in place. Never had any failures, other than eventual chafing. Typically last several years and we cover around 4000 miles each year, so more usage than a weekender would see.

I keep them from slipping along the boom with a simple clamp, made from a 3 inch bit of ~3/4 by 1/16" aluminum strap with a screw in each end going into the boom, one on each side of the boom. This locates it quite securely. Every now and then, or if I see any chafe developing, I'll back out the screws and rotate the strop a few inches, bringing a new surface to bear on any chafe generators.

All good so far... but the issue of a sail with slugs in a boom track does complicate the issue. You could install the strop in situ, wrapping it and then sewing it in place. Not hard to do (I'm forced to do this despite our loose footed sail, because our boom bag is located by slugs, dammit!). However, it means removing the strop before taking the sail off the boom, and that might be an issue for you. For us, it is an infrequent need but I dunno how you do things!

A slightly different method is to make the strop with velcro sewn to both sides of the webbing, hook on one side, loop on the other. With a couple of wraps, this is quite strong, and lots of race boats use such routinely. This could be taken off when needed without cutting any stitches. We have one that I carry to install ad hoc if an existing one should fail at sea. Never needed it yet (touching wood surreptitiously).

I'm sorry, but I don't have any applicable photos at hand.

Cheers,

Jim