I am awaiting fitting of my brand new dodger his week. Previous one (prior to me purchasing he boat couple of years back) was damaged by, I guess several boom dropping when the mainsail was lowered and forgetting to tighten up on lazy jacks.
When the main sail is hoisted, my boom height is several inches safely above the dodger. I like to slacken up my lazy jacks when the mainsail is up. So far i did not have the dodger and forgot to tighten up on lazy-jacks only few times before dropping the main sail which caused the boom to drop somewhat. this would have certainly hit he dodger causing some damage.
Short of purchasing and installing rigid boom vang, is there any other solution. My mast top seems to have single sheave for main halyard only . I do have spinnaker halyard line that I never use but its sheave is in the front and 1/3 the mast height below the top. Guess this lead and lever would make it too difficult to hoist the boom with it even a little bit? I know I can do this by tightening the lazy-jacks but for this I have to go on the deck and I am looking at solution that would allow me to do this from the cockpit. Any suggestions?
I had a boat with a topping lift consisting of: a vinyl-coated SS cable attached to the back of the crane at the top of the mast and terminating in a block about 2-feet above the aft end of the boom. A line was run from the end of the boom, up to the block, then back to the end of the boom and finally along the side of the boom to a cleat.
Worked OK.
However I don’t know how the sail roach of the Freedom main would interact when the sail is up.
RWV
Hi
what does “the crane at the top of the mast” mean?
Slackening it down to allow the mainsail roach to get past when tacking would be way to go.
Just say the aft end of the masthead fitting.
Mine had a hole in the side of the masthead fitting with a small SS shackle attaching an eye in the end of the cable.
These days I guess you could just use spectra all the way.
Given the weight of the Freedom boom /sail maybe a 2-part block system would be needed on the lower end.
Or bring it back to a winch on the boom or in the cockpit.
Tanks for clarification. I do have two tiny blocks (at least they appaer very small ) on each ens of the mast head fitting which I believe are used as flag halyards and doubt that they will be strong and/or big enough to fit a shackle and block that would be needed to suspend the weight of the boom and mainsail. I guess I’ll have to do the trip up the mast to investigate what I have up there.
Are you going to remember to tighten the topping lift any better than you remember to tighten the lazyjacks?
Adding a boomkicker would eliminate the damage done by forgetting to tighten the lazyjacks before slacking off on the main halyard.
I guess it is not only remembering or forgetting to do this prior lowering the main sail but also the fact that I would prefer to do this from inside the cockpit as I do a lot of singlehandling.
Boomkicker largest mmodel would not ba able to effectively suupport the 17 ft long boom and main sail onboard F36 so I’d have to go with Garhauer or some other rigid vang solution that is not only pricy but requires additional fittings in order to secure the vang from riding up the mast…
If you phone the Boomkicker guys directly they are pretty good about helping with custom rod configurations for non standard rigs.
I rigged up the lazyjack tensioning line on my F25 to run back along the boom to a cam cleat located near the boom end. It is simple to reach up from the cockpit and pull the tensioning line tight. Then you just release the main halyard and let the sail fall into the lazyjacks. Great setup for the singlehander - I don’t have to leave the cockpit.
I find that having the boom fall on your head when you forget to tighten the lazyjack tensioner is a great way to insure you remember to do it the next time!
If you can fit it in the budget, I believe the solid vang is the best way to go. As pointed out, the boom is very heavy, and in addition to a damaged dodger, a drop could result in a serious injury or fatality. The vang mast collar on my 1991 F38 has not moved or presented a problem. The two halves are fitted over a rubber sleeve and secured (compressed around he mast) with 4 heavy (1/4" or better) bolts with nyloc nuts. Most lazy jacks were designed to capture the main as it falls and not support the boom long term… although I too installed a cam cleat at the aft end of the boom to adjust them for sailing vs. lowering the sail.
I think a topping lift would need a pretty wide range of adjustment to avoid catching or chafing the mainsail leach. Regarding the 2 small blocks built into the masthead, they can be used for a flag halyard, but I believe they were actually included to provide for an emergency (temporary) main halyard. Because the 36/38 only has one masthead halyard, it would be very difficult to get to the masthead to run a new halyard in the event of a failure or lost halyard. The jib and spi halyards will be of little help getting you (or the admiral) up the mast. On ours, I run a 1/8 Dacron line across the blocks and pull both halves forward to the bow pulpit (aft half wraps around one side of the mast). Serves as flag halyard and enables me to reeve a temporary emergency masthead halyard if ever needed. I keep an old halyard on board just in case.
I hate when the iPad thinks it’s smarter than me (maybe it is) and corrects my spelling. Previous post should read “nyloc” nuts.
[prior post edited by moderator to fix the iPad spelling “correction”.]
I guess those sailing on F25 cannot appreciate the size and weight of 17 Ft long boom which is understandable.
So “the 2 small blocks built into the masthead, they can be used for a flag halyard, but I believe they were actually included to provide for an emergency (temporary) main halyard” those blocks can in deed then be used to suspend the boom and mainsail weight if they were intended as temporary mainsail halyard points. I’ll see what I find above when I go up to check it out.
The built-in spare halyard sheves are also safer than a block mounted to a crane attached to the masthead fitting. If the crane or attached block fails, the assembly falls to the deck and the boom it was supporting comes crashing down. If one of the small built-in (spare halyard) blocks fails, the line will run less freely, but remains aloft, sitting across the top of the masthead.
That said, I still advocate for a solid vang.