sliding gooseneck

[Sniper]

I would like to fit a sliding gooseneck to my ancient Kemp mast, on a Twister. My guess is that there may be secondhand availability via spar makers. Has anyone had any experience of sourcing and doing something similar? I am on a very tight budget, so I cannot afford to fit new.

TIA

 

[npf1]

Perhaps the Barge at Bursledon would be a good place to try.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I would like to fit a sliding gooseneck to my ancient Kemp mast, on a Twister. My guess is that there may be secondhand availability via spar makers. Has anyone had any experience of sourcing and doing something similar? I am on a very tight budget, so I cannot afford to fit new.

TIA

Many years ago I built a large Wharram catamaran and I made a sliding gooseneck from a 12" long x ½" Dia. galvanised bolt and two made to measure brackets to screw to the wooden mast. Perhaps you could do something similar with a stainless bolt and two modified stainless brackets rivetted to your(aluminium?) mast. I'm sre if you went round chandleries you could find suitable brackets to modify.

 

[Sniper]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am east coast based so Bursledon is a bit far, but we do have the redoubtable Andy Seedhouse who has a similar 'Aladdins cave' so I may have a look there. Petite Fleur - that's an interesting idea and food for thought.

all the best
Tim

 

[Seajet]

Tim,

I believe Kemp are owned by Selden now, but good luck getting any helpful info' out of them !

 

[VicS]

I would like to fit a sliding gooseneck to my ancient Kemp mast, on a Twister. My guess is that there may be secondhand availability via spar makers. Has anyone had any experience of sourcing and doing something similar? I am on a very tight budget, so I cannot afford to fit new.

TIA

I guess you have your reasons for doing this1

My boat has a sliding goose neck ... I rather wish it did not.

 

[Boo2]

My boat has a sliding goose neck ... I rather wish it did not.

Sorry, what are they and what are they for ?

Boo2

 

[Tranona]

Used to tension the luff by means of a tackle to the deck. Redundant if you have a winch for the main halyard.

 

[Seajet]

Actually the standard way of tensioning the mainsail luff on dinghies & small yachts where halliard winches are only used for the foresail.

NB sliding the gooseneck down leaves less headroom for the boom !

 

[VicS]

Sorry, what are they and what are they for ?

Boo2

This is a sliding goose neck



It fits into the bottom section of the mast track below the sail entry point and is free to slide up and down.

The luff is tensioned by a 2 part tackle attached to the lug on the bottom



It makes leading reefing lines back to the cockpit a little less than totally satisfactory.

.

 

[merlin3688]

Sliding Gooseneck

All masts now are made with a fixed gooseneck however we were always asked if we could supply a sliding gooseneck. From memory Z Spars made a couple by adding a s/s plate to the back of the fixed gooseneck to allow it to slide, you may be able to buy just the cast gooseneck and make it work as a sliding gooseneck. If its a old Kemp then the mast will be more round then the sections used today, this will be another problem if using a Selden/Z Spar gooseneck. Another thought is find an old broken mast and see if you are lucky enough to find a sliding gooseneck, many boatyards have broken masts just waiting to be sold for scrap.

 

[PeteCooper]

I guess you have your reasons for doing this1

My boat has a sliding goose neck ... I rather wish it did not.

+1

 

[VicS]

+1

What I have in mind to do is to make or buy an adjustable stop like one of these

To fit in the track below the goose neck. Once the luff is tensioned I will bring the stop up to just below the goose neck so that when the halyard is slackened it won't slide down the track . It might need a bit of modification so that it is not competing for space with the top block on the down-haul.

Sliding goose necks on dinghies often clamp in position once the luff is tensioned.

It will also I think then make leading reefing lines back to the cockpit a realistic proposition.

 

[wklein]

Sliding Gooseneck

I would agree that they are redundant, from the days of undersize winches and stretchy halyards.

I presume that you are struggling to get satisfactory luff tension, this is usually due to excessive friction or a stretchy halyard. Therefore i would suggest trying to solve these problems before embarking on an engineered solution (as far as im aware kemp never made one it was more of a sparlight / proctor feature)

My boat had one and i have replaced it now and upgraded halyards and winches.

If you cannot remedy it with these suggestions why not fit a cunningham?

 

[Sniper]

Thanks to all for the extra input. First, an apology for incorrect information - the mast is an IYE section (and not original) but the boom is much more recent and made by Kemp.

With regard to my reasons why - the boom is currently about 6-9" higher than it should be and I would like to move it down for mainly aesthetic reasons. One obvious solution is simply to relocate the existing fixed gooseneck (I do have a mainsail halyard winch and have no problem with luff tension) My thinking behind a separate track and sliding gooseneck is that I can spread the load across a wider area in a longitudinal plain. Because of the age of the mast it already has a few 'blind' holes around the area in which a relocated fixed gooseneck would go and I am reluctant to weaken it further.

Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree?

(by the way, I'm aware that if I lower the boom the mainsail will no longer be full hoist. My plan will be to replace the sail with one which is the correct luff size)

 

[rob2]

We used the downhaul on the sliding gooseneck of a Co26 rather like a Cunningham, with a small tackle it was a lot less hassle than adjusting tension with the halyard. If you fit a locking screw, it can be treated as an adjustable, fixed gooseneck, though.

Rob.