Surprise!

[AlanH]

The best would be a strop around the end of the boom. The setup shown looks weak as the middle of the bolt takes the load and has chafe points.View attachment 6870

I have something rather like this set up on the Piper. There's a velcro-closed, homemade strop that keeps the clew of the mainsail down at the boom. The mainsheet is split with 3 parts at the end of the boom and one part mid-boom and that single line goes through a block on a wide strop.

Bob, while that dyneema is the bomb, another option would be to get 18 inches of the 2-inch polypropylene that folks use for jacklines.

https://www.uscargocontrol.com/products/2-x-300-yellow-polyester-12k-web-no-print-per-linear-foot

2-inch webbing, 12,000 pounds breaking strength, so pretty surely good to 6,000 working load. Put it on the home sewing machine and stitch the snot out of it to make a one-foot-long loop, then do what you just did with the dyneema loop. Or if you're not comfortable with stitching it yourself, give it to Synthia and let her tack it together. You can have her stitch in a stainless steel triangle to which you attack the upper shackle of the mainsheet.

add in some of this where the shackle goes, to help with chafe.
https://www.uscargocontrol.com/products/cordura-wear-sleeves-for-2-webbing-purchase-by-lineal-foot



US Cargo Control also sells pre-made polypro lifting slings good to preposterous weights... shortest stock length is 3 feet but they'll make up a 2 footer for you for a few bucks.

 

[BobJ]

Surprise! has a velcro strap for the clew as you describe (as did Ragtime!). This appears to be standard-issue from North Sails now.

The Harken Loup is installed and looks good to me, so no need for cargo straps, etc. As I wrote, you could lift the whole boat with the Loup I'm using.
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[BobJ]

The Gyb'Easy boom brake/preventer works exactly as described = great! Chris and Joanie sailed with me yesterday and Chris took the photos in the next post.

Related to this (and another PSA of sorts): What we do can be hard on the gear. Surprise!'s vang attachment to the mast has been popping up and down, resonating through the whole boat. There was a 1/8" bronze spacer in there that had disintegrated - I found pieces of it on deck. Consulting my galvanic compatibility chart, bronze was not the right material to be up against the aluminum castings on the mast and without any isolation, the aluminum was taking a beating. Today I took it apart, cleaned everything and filled the gaps with high-grade SS washers coated with Tef-Gel. Now the vang attachment is snug with no vertical movement. The gooseneck comes next.

 

[BobJ]

I attached the Gyb'Easy to the boom using a heavy dyneema strop with eye splices in each end, which was just long enough to clove hitch around the boom and shackle to the brake. Wichard recommends a "saddle" on the boom to spread the load. Surprise!'s existing rail leads (for the jib) were good enough to turn the leads aft to the cockpit. For the correct geometry the lead blocks could be 12"-18" farther forward. I led the tails to the cockpit winches but I'll probably add a couple more clutches to keep the winches free. Any larger boat would find the supplied line too short - it's 52.5' long and barely long enough on Surprise! Maximum sail area for the Gyb'Easy is 431 sq feet (40 sq m). Surprise!'s main is 350 sq. feet.

Controlling the speed of the boom is done with a combination of the number of passes through the brake and the line tension. With one reef in the main, two passes of the bight through the casting were sufficient in the 8-10 knots we had, with almost no tension on the line. Three passes of the bight was effectively a preventer in that amount of wind, but might not be with a full main. More experimentation is required!



Max asked if the supplied line was anything special. It feels like most other new, cored double-braid. My theory is the surface finish is thicker than normal so it will stay slick longer. It's 11mm and just fits through the slots in the brake. I suspect the line diameter vs. the slots is more important than the finish.

I'm confident this boom brake/preventer will nearly eliminate the impact loads to which I've been subjecting the mainsheet/traveler attachments, vang, gooseneck, battens and the boom itself.
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[BobJ]

Greetings,

Some of you have asked why I haven't been updating this thread. The answer is I've given up and moved it over to Facebook. I can no longer include photos in my posts and the SSS board apparently doesn't think maintaining this forum is a priority. This vBulletin version was "end-of-lifed" several years ago and is no longer supported if anything goes wrong.

If you want to "friend" me on Facebook, my handle there is Robert Johnston.
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[Philpott]

Greetings, If you want to "friend" me on Facebook, my handle there is Robert Johnston.
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Too bad your account doesn't let you post photos. Good thing I can see Surprise! from my boat. Personally? I think the business of communication is better handled ... well, in person.

 

[AntsUiga]

Greetings,

Some of you have asked why I haven't been updating this thread. The answer is I've given up and moved over to Facebook. I can no longer include photos in my posts and the SSS board apparently doesn't think maintaining this forum is a priority. This vBulletin version was "end-of-lifed" several years ago and is no longer supported if anything goes wrong. Meanwhile, as a paper club that no longer meets in person and updates its own website only sporadically, the SSS could be maintaining and using this forum as a valuable communication tool. In my opinion.

If you want to "friend" me on Facebook, my handle there is Robert Johnston.
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Bob,
I am sorry to see this as an unfortunate trend. The SSS forum is a wonderful source of information and entertainment. The amount of posting has decreased dramatically, much to our loss.

Unfortunately, forums require more effort than social media. Finding or following any topoc in social media is a nightmare.

Not being able to post photos while others are not impacted is discouraging.

Ants