dankilb
Well-Known Member
It's not a sentence anyone wants to utter - but I think we need a new boom! The boat is a 1989 Jeanneau Voyage 12.50 with a Francespar furling mast. We've recently redone all standing rigging and completed a 'nut, bolt and rivet' restoration of the mast, so I've become familiar with availability (or not) of parts.
I'll post some pics later when I'm back on the boat, but the problems are twofold:
First, removing the vang bracket revealed a large corrosion hole in the lower groove/track. The area under the bracket (approx 150 x 30mm) has entirely disintegrated. There is similar corrosion under each mainsheet bale, although there is still material there to work with (unlike under the vang fitting). It is typical - if bad - stainless into/on aluminium damage.
Secondly, I'm pretty confident in saying there is no source of a replacement outhaul car to run on the 32mm 'X'-beam track that appears part of the extrusion. Research suggests that it is an Amiot/Goiot type. The US sources of parts (Rigrite etc.) have long dried up. Ronstan have helped with measurements from the factory and theirs definitely won't fit. Harken's 32mm system is proprietary and - at over £1k for the car - even if we got lucky and it seemed to 'fit' I don't think I'd risk running it (I understand they use recirculating ball bearing cars working to tight tolerances).
The best suggestion for the track issues is to bolt a new one on top of the old (e.g. the Ronstan 32mm beam). This feels a bit bodgy. The old track doesn't present a large flat surface nor tonnes of material along the centreline to drill/tap into. Cost for this, plus other bits we'd need, would be in the £1k range.
The corrosion hole could be patched somehow with a custom stainless vang bracket riveted in place (there isn't really enough flat 'meat' around the hole for a simple plate - it would need to curve around the boom profile) . I could also try to braze a repair piece of aluminium over the hole (although this obviously couldn't be loaded by the vang without further modification). I could get a pro welder down to the pontoon. I doubt we could get the boom (4.8m!) anywhere off site. With the anodising etc. it wouldn't be easy to weld and I doubt it could be achieved making the groove/track still usable (brackets and bales would therefore need to be fastened outside of and through whatever repairs were attempted).
So, I've sent requests for prices on a new boom to my contact at Sparcraft (who are the closest current derivative of Francespar) as well as Selden and ZSpars. I cannot even guess the number of figures I'm likely to receive in return - could it be 5?! Watch this space for updates.
I have the horrible feeling this could be ruin either the season or my credit rating - or both!
I'll post some pics later when I'm back on the boat, but the problems are twofold:
First, removing the vang bracket revealed a large corrosion hole in the lower groove/track. The area under the bracket (approx 150 x 30mm) has entirely disintegrated. There is similar corrosion under each mainsheet bale, although there is still material there to work with (unlike under the vang fitting). It is typical - if bad - stainless into/on aluminium damage.
Secondly, I'm pretty confident in saying there is no source of a replacement outhaul car to run on the 32mm 'X'-beam track that appears part of the extrusion. Research suggests that it is an Amiot/Goiot type. The US sources of parts (Rigrite etc.) have long dried up. Ronstan have helped with measurements from the factory and theirs definitely won't fit. Harken's 32mm system is proprietary and - at over £1k for the car - even if we got lucky and it seemed to 'fit' I don't think I'd risk running it (I understand they use recirculating ball bearing cars working to tight tolerances).
The best suggestion for the track issues is to bolt a new one on top of the old (e.g. the Ronstan 32mm beam). This feels a bit bodgy. The old track doesn't present a large flat surface nor tonnes of material along the centreline to drill/tap into. Cost for this, plus other bits we'd need, would be in the £1k range.
The corrosion hole could be patched somehow with a custom stainless vang bracket riveted in place (there isn't really enough flat 'meat' around the hole for a simple plate - it would need to curve around the boom profile) . I could also try to braze a repair piece of aluminium over the hole (although this obviously couldn't be loaded by the vang without further modification). I could get a pro welder down to the pontoon. I doubt we could get the boom (4.8m!) anywhere off site. With the anodising etc. it wouldn't be easy to weld and I doubt it could be achieved making the groove/track still usable (brackets and bales would therefore need to be fastened outside of and through whatever repairs were attempted).
So, I've sent requests for prices on a new boom to my contact at Sparcraft (who are the closest current derivative of Francespar) as well as Selden and ZSpars. I cannot even guess the number of figures I'm likely to receive in return - could it be 5?! Watch this space for updates.
I have the horrible feeling this could be ruin either the season or my credit rating - or both!
Last edited:
