DIY Boom Brake

[oldvarnish]

try this https://goo.gl/images/qoKM6a

thank you

 

[geoid96]

My boat came with a Scott Boom Brake and I took it off because of the problems caused by the lines across the side decks. Something of a trip hazard when walking forward but much more of a problem when clipped on to the jackstay. You either have to crawl under the boom brake line or unclip to get past it. ......

I rig the lines for my ASB boom brake under the jackstays. Moving forward when attached then means just a step over the brake line. I find the lazy genoa sheet a bigger trip hazard as it's position is variable.

 

[[70521]]

A preventer's fine, but you have to unrig it, then re-rig it the other side. It does nothing to help control the actual gybe. I like the idea of a boom-brake, but I've been put off by the expense. I wonder if an abseiling thingy would be adequate on a 34-footer? Anyone know how strong they are?

It is not that difficult, to unrig then re-rig it and is not designed to control the gybe; it is designed to prevent an accidental gybe, the actual gybe should be controlled by sheeting in the main then a graceful slight turn of the tiller/wheel, but we all know this. Unless you are racing and all sorts of dangerous stuff goes on

 

[{151760}]

It is not that difficult, to unrig then re-rig it and is not designed to control the gybe; it is designed to prevent an accidental gybe, the actual gybe should be controlled by sheeting in the main then a graceful slight turn of the tiller/wheel, but we all know this. Unless you are racing and all sorts of dangerous stuff goes on

Sometimes clambering around in heavy seas to re-rig the preventer is very dangerous. Perhaps a boom brake is a better solution.
Why 'should' the actual gybe be controlled by the main sheet? Perhaps a boom brake is more efficient.

 

[savageseadog]

Something like a Sticht plate might be more compact and possibly more effective

 

[ip485]

I put a Walder on my 485 - best bit of kit ever.

The lines are a slight trip hazard, but in reality you just get accustom to where they are. With everything (well nearly) possible from the cockpit I manage to not go forward most of the time anyway!

The first outing in any proper wind was interesting and of course I was a bit sceptical. It was a good 40 knots - three quarters main down wind of course. A few gentle gybes from side to side with the main pulled in, gradually got braver and full gybes side to side. Very smart, totally controllable, no bangs, G and T stable.

Then with the final gybe the main halyard slipped in the Spinlock (not correctly closed) and the main dropped down about 15 feet. Oh well never a dull moment.

Oh and I have found getting the tension on the line correct is important - it is well worth a few marks, and of course using pre-stretched braid - the tension needs increasing a little with the wind to ensure a smooth gybe.

Would not be without the boom brake, not for me you understand because of course I am alert and finally tuned at all times, but I find the watch crew in the middle of the night have a tendency to not be quite so alert (he, he) and I like to stay in my bed rather than come rolling up after they have just managed a crash gybe.

PS it really does work exactly like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGVgpPuQIuY

 

[rogerthebodger]

Heres another interesting boom brake which is a cross between an abseiling device and the wichard gybe easy.

http://dreamgreen.org/merimarine/boom-brake

 

[Pagetslady]

I have a 26 foot trailer sailer and have had a couple of minor accidental gybes this year when inexperienced crew were helming.

I liked the idea of a boom brake but they seemed to be very expensive for reasonably simple items. I bought a climbing abseil figure of eight device and fixed it with a shackle onto the boom at the vang hanger. I then ran a line from the toe rail just forward of the mast, through the figure of eight, down to a block on the opposite toe rail and back to a spare deck mounted jamming cleat by the cockpit.

It works perfectly. Gybes now cause a slow, controlled boom movement with no need to sheet in and/or slow the boom by hand. I can vary the tension to suit wind conditions by hand or using the cockpit winch. Total cost was under £10 ( I already had the block and line).

Obviously my boat is light weight and the loads are low but I think that it would scale up to something a bit bigger reasonably well.

Have you read February – yes February's sailing today there's an optical on boom breaks.
Mike

 

[savageseadog]

Have you read February – yes February's sailing today there's an optical on boom breaks.
Mike

Something to see?

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Say you go the climber's FO8 route, what sort of rope would be best? Low stretch, like sheet rope, or shock absorbing, like climbing rope?

 

[rotrax]

Wot I had in the spare rope bin......................................

 

[lw395]

From Morgan's Cloud:
Broken Booms

Contrast that with what will happen with any boom retention device that attaches to the boom and then goes to the toe rail: at loads ranging from three to eight and a half tons, it is likely that something will break, and probably catastrophically.

What’s going to break? Probably the boom (I have seen three booms that were broken in this way). But tearing the attachment point out of the deck (leaving a gaping hole) or a failure of part of the boom brake or tackle are all fun possibilities too. And all of these failures will release the boom, or the wreckage of same, to fly across the boat with killing force just when the crew are most vulnerable as they react to whatever caused the problem in the first place.

Now of course a boom brake will probably dissipate some of this energy by slipping, as designed, and consequently may withstand the strain and protect itself and the boom. (It will certainly do a better job in this regard than a tackle to the rail with no give.) But do you want to assume that the brake and its lines are perfectly set up and adjusted at all times, or that they can withstand these kinds of loads, even momentarily? No, me neither. And a brake does not solve the problem of point loading the boom in the middle with a substantial horizontal plane component that most booms were never designed to take.

 

[Dutch01527]

From Morgan's Cloud:
Broken Booms

Contrast that with what will happen with any boom retention device that attaches to the boom and then goes to the toe rail: at loads ranging from three to eight and a half tons, it is likely that something will break, and probably catastrophically.

What’s going to break? Probably the boom (I have seen three booms that were broken in this way). But tearing the attachment point out of the deck (leaving a gaping hole) or a failure of part of the boom brake or tackle are all fun possibilities too. And all of these failures will release the boom, or the wreckage of same, to fly across the boat with killing force just when the crew are most vulnerable as they react to whatever caused the problem in the first place.

Now of course a boom brake will probably dissipate some of this energy by slipping, as designed, and consequently may withstand the strain and protect itself and the boom. (It will certainly do a better job in this regard than a tackle to the rail with no give.) But do you want to assume that the brake and its lines are perfectly set up and adjusted at all times, or that they can withstand these kinds of loads, even momentarily? No, me neither. And a brake does not solve the problem of point loading the boom in the middle with a substantial horizontal plane component that most booms were never designed to take.

I am not sure that I follow the logic of the argument above which seems to be that having no protection from an accidental gybe is better than having protection that might theoretically fail. My experience is that the stresses are not dramatically high because the there is no snatching just a slow slide.

For heavy load boats the advice is to run a line from the front to back of the boom with a loop to attach the brake too. That means that load will be a compression force and not damage the boom. I did not do this because of the light loads on my boat.