Poignard
Well-known member
I am interested in fitting boom gallows to my 28' Twister and would welcome any information on their design, construction and method of use.
Boom gallows: design, construction and method of use
- Thread starter Poignard
- Start date
Plum
Well-known member
Not my own work but made of what appears gas pipe fittings and typical of the work of boat builder Martin Heard to use very substantial fittings. The verticals are just screwed into the threaded flanges using what looks like standard pipe threads. 24 years old. The deck is plywood with a grp skin and underneath is a 3inch thick(high) timber beam that two of the bolts in each flange pass through (as does the mainsheet hourse). Very substantial, and it needs to be to withstand an accidental swipe by the boom! Top bar is iroko. Boat is a Heard 23 but the same fittings were used on the Heard 28 too.
Edit: these are the type of fittings mine is made from Galvanised Malleable Iron Pipe Fittings - Pipe Dream Fittings
Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
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rogerthebodger
Well-known member
You need to give a little more spec.
What material you plan to use
Do you wish to that it is folding
Mounted at the aft of cockpit or for of cockpit
I normally look at others and take the bits I like
boom gallows design - Google Search
What material you plan to use
Do you wish to that it is folding
Mounted at the aft of cockpit or for of cockpit
I normally look at others and take the bits I like
boom gallows design - Google Search
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
Rival 41C is a 2" pole that slots into a bracket on the side of the coaming, topping lift is used to lower onto gallows, pole with boom crutch is removable. This method was also used on a 72' ketch I sailed, socket and pole. I have also noticed two pieces of wood, planks, fastened together like scissors, long arms get placed against gunwales, short arms form the crutch. I dont know how they were secured, maybe just by gravity forcing the long arms out against the gunwale, also removable.
Poignard
Well-known member
No, I don't want to narrow it down until I have gathered more information.
fredrussell
Well-known member
Just out of interest, what’s wrong with a topping lift? I ask because I don’t like adding clutter to a boat, especially an easy on the eye one like a Twister.
vic008
Active member
Scissor style total waste imo! Vessel rolls and impossible to keep boom in the scissor.No rolling then they are ok.
Wansworth
Well-known member
problem On a small boat it’s more stuff on deck,maybe one you can slot I one side or the other,probably not as you have a tiller
William_H
Well-known member
Boom gallows have enormous use for boats with a gaff and boom to stow and where they typically had a very long boom. As said above I think a topping lift will suit you better. However on my little boat I always leave the boat with topping lift disconnected and the boom layed on the cabin top. Looks ugly and I have had people advise me topping lift has failed and I need to fix it. The booms goes to one side of entrance hatch and the reason I do this is that if the boom hangs on the topping lift it swings with every passing boat and wore out the traveler car and track. So I say like Fred Russel I say leave boom gallows to the traditional boats. ol'will
Lucy52
Active member
Poignard
Well-known member
Thanks for all the useful contributions (and for the not so useful).
Bajansailor
Well-known member
We have a boom gallows that I made for our Challenger 35 - it started off life has a tall tubular S/S ring frame for a dodger over the front end of the cockpit. I had a couple of S/S brackets welded on the top, and made a timber beam (bolted to these brackets) to act as a gallows, complete with scallops on each side and in the middle for the boom to rest in.
The ring frame does double duty in supporting the front end of a home made fibreglass bimini awning over the cockpit, to keep the sun out - it also functions as a water collecting device, and somewhere to mount the solar panel.
When the boat is not in use, the topping lift is lowered and the boom rests on the gallows, reducing wear in the pins of the shackles on the mainsheet and on the gooseneck from the boom moving slightly as the boat rolls.
The ring frame does double duty in supporting the front end of a home made fibreglass bimini awning over the cockpit, to keep the sun out - it also functions as a water collecting device, and somewhere to mount the solar panel.
When the boat is not in use, the topping lift is lowered and the boom rests on the gallows, reducing wear in the pins of the shackles on the mainsheet and on the gooseneck from the boom moving slightly as the boat rolls.
DownWest
Well-known member
Looking at Sailboat data, it seems you are limited to one over the companionway, unless you want one halfway down the cockpit. Maybe a solid kickerstrut and a boom brake?
Poignard
Well-known member
In "Cruising Under Sail" Eric Hiscock praises boom gallows as a means of holding the boom steady when reefing and this is its main appeal for me.
If I fitted the gallows above the companionway, which is where I would like to have it, its legs would provide a strong handhold when climbing out of the cockpit in bad weather to go and put a reef in or do some other job on deck.
But there are two snags to having it there:
- the gallows would be fairly near the centre of the boom so there would be a long overhang aft of it
- the timber cross piece with the notches in would be at eye level when I am standing up and restrict forward visibility
If I fitted the gallows above the companionway, which is where I would like to have it, its legs would provide a strong handhold when climbing out of the cockpit in bad weather to go and put a reef in or do some other job on deck.
But there are two snags to having it there:
- the gallows would be fairly near the centre of the boom so there would be a long overhang aft of it
- the timber cross piece with the notches in would be at eye level when I am standing up and restrict forward visibility
TernVI
Well-known member
Putting the boom in the gallows while reefing implies either a very wide gallows or reefing nearly head to wind?
I really don't see that working for us.
I tend to put a reef in while sailing under reefed (rolled) genoa, the boom is out over the quarter.
Or hove to, it's further out.
Seems like adding extra, unnecessary 'moves' into the reefing process?
We do use a boom gallows on the small boat, it is basically a board which clips on to the aft coaming, the lower end is shaped to fit around a footrest/chock on the cockpit sole. Holds the boom nicely, same place every time so the cover fits.
I really don't see that working for us.
I tend to put a reef in while sailing under reefed (rolled) genoa, the boom is out over the quarter.
Or hove to, it's further out.
Seems like adding extra, unnecessary 'moves' into the reefing process?
We do use a boom gallows on the small boat, it is basically a board which clips on to the aft coaming, the lower end is shaped to fit around a footrest/chock on the cockpit sole. Holds the boom nicely, same place every time so the cover fits.
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
Agree completely.
Sailed to the Azores on a Vertue which had a boom gallows. We never used it for reefing. We did use it when sailing under tri sail however.
Plum
Well-known member
I have a boom gallows (as shown in an earlier post) but do not use it for reefing which I do hove-too. I sail single-handed. I do use the gallows when lowering the main. The notch in the gallows needs to be deep enough. I lower main (from working at thd mast) with the objective, wherever possible, of dropping the boom straight into the centre notch which holds the boom still while I work along the boom tidying the sail then when i get back to the cockpit I tighten the sheet. Obviously if the boat is rolling a lot when lowering the main its best to use the topping lift instead of the gallows
www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
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Poignard
Well-known member
Having just bought your ebook, I feel entitled to bombard you with more questions!
Your boom gallows, like most, has three notches but you only use the centre one.
Under what circumstances would you use the outer notches?
Also, could you amplify your last sentence because I seem to be misunderstanding it? I would have thought that if the boat is rolling heavily , it would be best to steady the boom as quickly as possible by dropping it into the gallows.
Plum
Well-known member
Hi, happy to answer any questions. I hardly ever use the two outer notches. I have occasionally used them in harbour to move the boom off-centre so I don't bash my head on it when comming out of the companionway but then still bash my head on it when moving about the cockpit because it is not where it usually is! Because my gallows is right aft, the boom over the cockpit is only about a foot off-centre when using a side notch. If I was making a new gallows cross-beam I would only have the centre notch.
Regarding my comment about not using the gallows if the boat is rolling a lot: as I lower the main from the mast, until I return to the cockpit to tighten the mainsheet the rolling motion has, on a few rare occasions, forced the boom out of the notch allowing it to fall off the gallows. Yes, the mainsheet was jammed near head to wind before I went to the mast but then has enough slack when the boom is in the gallows for the boom to fall off the side of the gallows. Having a very heavy boom, together with a heavy gaff, sliding off the gallows is not a good idea when rolling but has illustrated the importance of a strong gallows.
Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
Poignard
Well-known member
That's interesting.
Like you, I have halyards, topping lift, reefing pendants and kicking tackle belayed at the mast, and I don't want to be going to and fro. I want to be able to drop the boom into the boom gallows, pull down a reef, tie off the reefing points before I have to return to the cockpit.; ie one trip forward to the mast and one trip back to the cockpit.
I had thought about having to return to the cockpit to tighten in the mainsheet so as to keep the boom in its notch. Then I thought about hardening down the kicking tackle. which is cleated at the mast step, to stop the boom jumping out of its notch. Do you think that would work OK?
I also considered, if I had the gallows over the hatch garage which is where I would like it to be, having a lashing line or a length of velcro under each notch to pass over the boom to keep it in place.