testing a boom brake

[Fox Morgan]

I'm just testing out a boom brake I was given, as it's previous owner didn't get along with it very well, he gave it to me.

I had a very inexperienced friend on board at the weekend and I wished I had fitted it sooner given the running conditions we found ourselves in. (28-30kts in the Solent on saturday) with only 10 - 20 minutes between gybes it meant using a preventer would be more hassle than I could be bothered with, as my friend was feeling a bit *ick I wanted him to be on helm, but needed supervising, naturally.

Anyone else had experience with the Walder Boom brake? Any tips on how to get the best out of it?

(I wrote a blog post about it here if anyone is interested: Braking Bad)

 

[Fox Morgan]

Since no one replied to this, I can only guess that no one uses a boom brake.

I've given the Walder boom brake a thorough going over the past couple of weeks.

verdict is, that currently it doesn't provide as much breaking as my big main sail needs, but, it does make a difference to steering down wind and stopping the boom from bouncing around in a lumpy downwind sea.
Once accidental gybe (autopilot, not me) and it was a non event. it went with a decent clunk but nothing that made me think, ouch.

I'm going to see if I can get my hands on a wichard gybe easy to see if its as good as I remember after using one on a Hanse a couple of years ago.

if anyone else has input on this, then please do message me or reply to this thread. thanks.

 

[Koeketiene]

I missed your post the first time round.

However, I too have a Walder boom brake (out of choice - not a gift )
Our setup is somewhat different.
We don't use a 'handy billy' as you describe.
On our boat the line leads via some blocks to the winches.
The amount of tension on the line - applied by the winches - determines the speed at which the boom swings over.
When sailing dead downwind, and with the proper amount of tension, I never hear more than a gentle 'clunck' when gybing.
Even when the gybe is accidental.

 

[Fox Morgan]

I missed your post the first time round.

However, I too have a Walder boom brake (out of choice - not a gift )
Our setup is somewhat different.
We don't use a 'handy billy' as you describe.
On our boat the line leads via some blocks to the winches.
The amount of tension on the line - applied by the winches - determines the speed at which the boom swings over.
When sailing dead downwind, and with the proper amount of tension, I never hear more than a gentle 'clunck' when gybing.
Even when the gybe is accidental.

I don't really have spare winches that I could use for the boom brake, hence the block n tackle style approach. The thing I noticed when I put a lot of tension on was that it was trying to centralise the boom, so not allowing it full range of movement. I had to look on line for fitting instructions, but I'm not sure it's 100% right. I took my line from centre cleats and the brake sits on the loop at the end of the vang.
I have a spare boom eye that is moveable and Im wondering if making the angles more neutral between the cleats and boom brake might have a positive effect.

 

[GrahamM376]

Came across a boat this summer with snapped boom. Boom brake which was attached nearer the mast than the end was set and it gybed, boom snapped cleanly as though it had been cut with a saw. Don't know enough about them to pass comment, just an observation.

 

[Koeketiene]

I don't really have spare winches that I could use for the boom brake, hence the block n tackle style approach. The thing I noticed when I put a lot of tension on was that it was trying to centralise the boom, so not allowing it full range of movement. I had to look on line for fitting instructions, but I'm not sure it's 100% right. I took my line from centre cleats and the brake sits on the loop at the end of the vang.
I have a spare boom eye that is moveable and Im wondering if making the angles more neutral between the cleats and boom brake might have a positive effect.

- Having winches to spare (in our case) was definitely a plus. We have at least two either side. Generally use the boom brake when sailing downwind. That means 2 winches for the boom brake and two for the downwind sail (kite/cruising chute/gennaker - sold the spinnaker).
- The boom brake blocks are attached to the toe rail at point where the boat is quite beamy - at a quite neutral angle to the boom. This seems to compensate for the tendency to center the boom when more tension is applied.

Came across a boat this summer with snapped boom. Boom brake which was attached nearer the mast than the end was set and it gybed, boom snapped cleanly as though it had been cut with a saw. Don't know enough about them to pass comment, just an observation.

Sounds to me like too much tension was applied. The aim of a boom brake is not to hold the boom in place but to avoid crash gybes.

 

[sjdtuk]

I have a Scott Boomlock

http://www.sailspar.co.uk/yacht-products/scott-boomlock/

Works pretty well.

As OR4751 says, the idea is to slow down the boom, or even stop it slowly, not to lock it in correct.

On the boomlock, all this can be done from the helm. No winches required, just padeyes amidships.

Stephen

 

[RichardS]

I have a Scott Boomlock

http://www.sailspar.co.uk/yacht-products/scott-boomlock/

Works pretty well.

As OR4751 says, the idea is to slow down the boom, or even stop it slowly, not to lock it in correct.

On the boomlock, all this can be done from the helm. No winches required, just padeyes amidships.

Stephen

For what it's worth, I did a fair amount of online research into gybe preventers last summer and came to the conclusion that the Scott Boomlock seemed to be a better device than the Walder or the Wichard.... although I still haven't bought one so it's all a bit academic at the moment!

Richard

 

[dk]

I used a Scott Boomlock rolling across the Atlantic a few years ago and it was brilliant. Took a while to get the tension just right, but definitely worth it if you intend to do long downwind passages.

D

 

[Fox Morgan]

I have a Scott Boomlock

http://www.sailspar.co.uk/yacht-products/scott-boomlock/

Works pretty well.

As OR4751 says, the idea is to slow down the boom, or even stop it slowly, not to lock it in correct.

On the boomlock, all this can be done from the helm. No winches required, just padeyes amidships.

Stephen

Ooh, another contender for testing. Thanks for the link to this.

My reasoning for a boom brake is not to stop the boom like a preventer, but to do as its name suggests and put the brakes on a bit and tame the gybe as well as stop the boom from flapping about in a rolly downwind sea, particularly when Im sailing solo.

using it in anger for the first time recently meant I was able to more easily sail dead downwind or as near as, without the head strain of worrying about the boom suddenly flipping over. The concentration needed on helm is extremely fatiguing in that scenario. The fully battened main is fairly big on the Dehler 36, and the boom brake did tame it a bit. I still have to gybe properly, I can't just "crash" gybe and rely on the boom brake to take the strain, but it does make everything just that bit calmer, tamer and more maneagble on my own.

Strangely it also helped when I hove to, to reef. It kept the boom from wildly flapping about (as I have to let out the main sheet a lot to get the boat slow enough so that it wont just drive out of the hove to and tack away)

That was a very welcome bonus point for the boom brake.

Im definitely going to have a look at the other alternatives to see which one suits my boat and the way I handle it the best.

 

[oldvarnish]

Came across a boat this summer with snapped boom. Boom brake which was attached nearer the mast than the end was set and it gybed, boom snapped cleanly as though it had been cut with a saw. Don't know enough about them to pass comment, just an observation.

Oh, I wonder if that was me? Seen limping into Brest? I snapped my boom this year gybing out of Ushant and it was a very clean break where the kicker and Walder were attached.

I had the brake on tight, but not overnight at the time. The knack with the Walder is to know how tight to winch it in. The trouble is you don't know how tight until you gybe. That's perhaps why I've overdone it on occasions and the main has stayed aback rather than gybed. What I do then is ease the line a fraction on the winch and over she goes. When you get it right the boom goes over as if its being pushed by a gentle hand. Lovely.

I doubt it was the brake that snapped by boom, although it might have helped. The boom's 20 yrs old and has taken a lot of stick in recent years. As a precaution, on the new boom I've moved the Walder a foot further aft and no longer hang it from the same place as the kicker.

I'm still a fan of the Walder. When you're used to it, it hugely increases safety and is far easier to rig and use in heavier weather than much cheaper rope preventers.

To the OP, I'd advise playing with it a bit longer, make sure it's got the right thickness of rope (the manual specifies) and play around with the number of turns on the drum. Two was not enough for me, but three was almost too many.

 

[Koeketiene]

As a precaution, on the new boom I've moved the Walder a foot further aft and no longer hang it from the same place as the kicker.

Interesting. We've got the Walder just aft of the kicker.
Boom is 4m long, and the kicker is attached to the mast 1.5 meter off the mast.
Could I ask how long your boom is and how much off the mast you have now attached the Walder?

 

[GrahamM376]

Oh, I wonder if that was me? Seen limping into Brest?

The one I saw was in Figueira da Foz a couple of months ago.

 

[Slowtack]

I was thinking about a twin bridle system - one each side of boom - connected to fore and aft boom ends and then back to winches (I have 4 primary winches in cockpit) via blocks in same manner as described by OR 4751. No lateral load on boom and some "give" due to elasticity of the bridles.
Any thoughts?

 

[knuterikt]

Since no one replied to this, I can only guess that no one uses a boom brake.

I've given the Walder boom brake a thorough going over the past couple of weeks.

verdict is, that currently it doesn't provide as much breaking as my big main sail needs, but, it does make a difference to steering down wind and stopping the boom from bouncing around in a lumpy downwind sea.
Once accidental gybe (autopilot, not me) and it was a non event. it went with a decent clunk but nothing that made me think, ouch.

I'm going to see if I can get my hands on a wichard gybe easy to see if its as good as I remember after using one on a Hanse a couple of years ago.

if anyone else has input on this, then please do message me or reply to this thread. thanks.

I have no experience with the Walder boom brake I use the ASB boom brake http://www.helmtec.se/
It is doing a great job - but some times I still use a preventer.

A boom brake is not a preventer, it should not stop the boom from gybing but only reduce the speed of the boom during a gybe.

I don't know if the wichard gybe easy is any better - both rely on rope friction to do their job.

You have installed it according to instructions http://www.walderweb.com/en/content/9-implantation
A video

 

[Momentary Lapse of Reason]

This is great, thanks to all the contributors from somebody who has been looking at boom brakes for my Moody 31. I'm new here but having seen the amazing amount of ill informed drivel on some of the threads it's great to see this thread which is indeed the value of this type of forum.