Why are booms on larger boats so high

[ip485]

So there is no possibility of it hitting your head.

 

[garvellachs]

Certainly this can be a bit of an issue above 36 feet or so.

To a degree it is not purely the boom height that causes a need for mast steps - a fully battened laminate sail with quality batten cars tends to be quite high above the boom when stowed.

One minor but very important suggestion from our recent experience - get a stack-pack/lay-bag. But make sure the zip closes from the boom end towards the front NOT the other way around. It is relatively easy to start the zip at the boom end with very little sail there. Then pull forward as far as can get to and sort the rest at leisure. The alternative of aligning two zip ends and starting the zip from the front requires 3 hands, telescopic arms, patience of a saint and vocabulary of a Glaswegian

On a recent delivery I noticed the stack pack zip was sewn so that it over-shot the sail at the clew end by several inches and just hung loose. When unzipped it didn't come apart at all, but opened enough to let the sail and lines through freely. So to zip up one just had to pull the closer back along the zip. Clever I thought.

 

[Tranona]

On a recent delivery I noticed the stack pack zip was sewn so that it over-shot the sail at the clew end by several inches and just hung loose. When unzipped it didn't come apart at all, but opened enough to let the sail and lines through freely. So to zip up one just had to pull the closer back along the zip. Clever I thought.

Exactly how mine is made (20 years ago for the first one). Thought that was normal, so surprised others do not seem to be made the same way.

 

[Woodlouse]

UV amongst other things.

To be fair you've got to be vary careless for your sail to suffer from UV. If you've had your sail up all day and intend to do the same for the duration of a cruise it's not really going to affected by not being covered in the few hours of daylight before dusk and after dawn. If of course you stop for several days then it's worth putting the covers on again.

 

[geem]

I'm even more amazed at the need to zip up except at the beginning and end of a cruise. On a recent month long cruise it was undone at our starting marina when the boat was snugly tied up then done up again at our destination marina. Particularly when we are at anchor I want to be able hoist the main with minimum fuss.

We cruise in the Caribbean. UV is fierce. We cover up at every opportunity. My friend didn't cover his sails so often and after 5 years you can rip them by hand like a sheet of paper

 

[RupertW]

We cruise in the Caribbean. UV is fierce. We cover up at every opportunity. My friend didn't cover his sails so often and after 5 years you can rip them by hand like a sheet of paper

I get the point if you are cruising continuously and spending days or weeks at anchorages without moving. Howver I still don't understand why anyone would want to zip up when still at sea and therefore take the risks that earlier posters mentioned. If it's dead calm and you have a day's motoring ahead of you then little risk and that would make sense. I suppose my assumption has been that my main will become baggy and need replacing long before UV weakens it, which seems to be the case in the Med, but may well not be elsewhere.