Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

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brico
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:51 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

Post by brico »

when booms are so long and main sails so big. I have just purchased F36 and find it somewhat difficult to handle the main sail. Shouldn't the rigid boom vang make a lot of sense on these boats?? Which one is the best for F36?
1986 F36/38
s/v Mirage

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GeoffSchultz
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Location: BlueJacket: Guatemala
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Re: Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

Post by GeoffSchultz »

Perhaps Freedom struggled with connecting it to a carbon fiber mast. My 40/40 has a mast collar that the vang connects to, and it appears that there are multiple versions of that even within the 40/40 family. I've had mine re-made and strengthened when the stainless ripped. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the collar. However, it's basically 2 strips of 10-12" wide 1/8" stainless which wrap around the mast and bolt together with flanges/tabs which are 90 degrees to the mast. I had a second 1/8" piece made, which is about an inch less wide and which only goes 1/4 of the way around the mast. This is welded to the collar and this has the attachment point for the vang welded to it. The original collar didn't have this second piece and it ripped due to the upward forces placed on it. This distributes the loading and I haven't had any problems with tearing since implementing it.

Here are some photos of the vang, but the stainless collar is covered by a Sunbrella collar as an attempt to keep the mast from leaking.

Image

One of the problems that I still had was to keep the collar from sliding up or rotating. I tried several things, such as stainless chain, but what I finally ended up making is the following which bolts to the bottom of the vang attachment point and connects to mast ring. Note that the bar is 1/2" stainless and the V shaped piece is 3/8":

Image

This is what happened to a 1/4" version:

Image

I hope that this helps.

-- Geoff
BlueJacket
1997 Freedom 40/40
http://www.GeoffSchultz.org

brico
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:51 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

Post by brico »

Geoff,

thank you. this is great. this information is much appreciated.

best/regards/petar
1986 F36/38
s/v Mirage

wcwcwc
Posts: 94
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:00 pm
Location: F36 Padanaram, MA

Re: Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

Post by wcwcwc »

I have a Garhauer vang on my F-36. Instead of a collar I had a custome fitting made which uses the original attachment for the block and tackle vang. I had the fitting made locally then sent it to Garhauer who welded the vang to it. Aside from looks the advantage over the band is that the attachment is a few inches lower resulting in a better angle to the boom for a very high stress part. I've had it for only one full season but no problems so far.

The fitting slips in between the original bail for the vang and the mast collar. A stub engages the bail and a fork on the forward end slips over the eye in the mast collar where a pin secures it. Attached is a picture taken of the mast and bail. Sorry I don't have a picture of the finnished part. To get the par made I made the part up in wood and had a local shop make it up in stainless.
Bill Cormack
Formerly Sailing F-36 "Hard Earned" out of New Bedford Yacht Club, Padanaram, MA. Now a member of Pelagic Sailing Club a New England based club whose members are about half boat owners and half crew.

Capitan Sardina
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 9:14 pm

Re: Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

Post by Capitan Sardina »

My boat was converted to conventional booms and has Isomat rigid boombangs
the attachment is an stainless steel ring bolted around the mast. They work well and support the boom when lowering sails, reefing etc. I really miss a traveller for better sail control though.

Image

Image

cheers,

alex

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Michel
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Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:48 am
Location: Zaanstad, the Netherlands, EU

Travellers on a catketch

Post by Michel »

Alex,

We've had extensive discussions here on the usefulness of travellers on a catketch. If you look at the Wyliecats, cat rigged racers puro sanguine, they have no travellers. Especially on the main (front) sail of a catketch or schooner, a traveller induces you to trim in the sail much too far. You need to maintain a sheeting angle as if it were a genoa. A single midships sheeting point or two fixed points at the outsides of the coachroof will do fine for that. I have travellers on the F44 and thinking of removing them. It adds little and the sheet always gets stuck on the corners of the traveler rail when gybing.

For the mizzen, a traveller is as useful as it is for a sloop, so you might consider one. Two fixed points on the corners of the transom might also work fine. I'm thinking of doing that for my mizzen. The mizzen sheet also gets stuck all the time when gybing.

These travellers add a lot of hassle and don't do enough back for that. And I like to reduce rig complexity as much as possible.
Michel Capel, Freedom 44 #4 1981 'Alabama Queen', NED8188, cat ketch with wishbones, home port Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, 52*42.238'N 005*18.154'E.

Capitan Sardina
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Re: Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

Post by Capitan Sardina »

Yes, you are right. Certainly part of the beauty of the freedom rig is its simplicity.

In my case one concern, since I have conventional booms are the forces that the rigig boom bang may cause on the mast. Both torque, but specially shear.
A traveller would ease that. Not worth the complication through, but I tend to go easy on the bang.

Cheers,

alex

AlanK
Posts: 127
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:59 pm
Location: Freedom 33 Boston, MA USA

Re: Why only few Freedom sailboats have rigid boom vang...

Post by AlanK »

On my F-33 I installed boomkickers which are a flexible rods that act to support the boom like a rigid vang but are flexible so provide some give to absorb shock. However, I have heard they may not be stiff enough for larger booms like on the 36.
Either way with a rigid vang or boomkickers the attachment points for the bottom of the vang present the same options/challenges.
In my case I had a custom stainless bracket made (I considered the garhauer mast collar but went a different route). It bolts down using 2 of the of bolts that go through the mast collar itself. This seems very strong. A picture is attached.
boomkickerandvangcustombracket.jpg
boomkickerandvangcustombracket.jpg (44.58 KiB) Viewed 9677 times
What you see in the picture is the original bracket when I only had a vang and the new bracket with the swivel for the boomkicker welded in.

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