I broke my (unnamed) solo righting system several years ago, leaving me with a carbon tube that is 87 inches long and tapers from 1 13/16 inches to 1 5/8 inches. I now sail an A-class, so solo righting is no longer an issue. What cool sailing-related things can you do with a carbon tube like this?

Boom for your A-Class.

Basically you have a broken carbon windsurfer mast. Things I have seen or done

Boom for a F14
Boom for an A2
Trailer mast support front or rear
Laser dolly
Spin pole for Hobie Wave.
Tiller extension for a big tri
trailer reinforcement
lawnmower obstacle or projectile

Depending on your A-Cat, you could always rig a small spin set up for it, just like those videos of the Marstrom...

I would suggest righting pole for MY catamaran...

Boom for my 18 Square.

Andinista: If you weren't in Chile, I'd find a way to mail it to you. I hope you'd do a better job managing your fore-aft weight distribution than I did when I broke it.

Les: My boat is a late 2000ish Boyer Mk IV and does still have an aluminum boom. I looked at my buddy's new carbon Bimare XJ boom, which was modified by Vector Works to do end-boom sheeting instead of attaching the sheet directly to the sail, and noticed that it had some kind of visible reinforcement (Kevlar?) at the gooseneck and sheet attachment point. In my Mk IV, the sheet currently attaches directly to the sail, but my buddy’s end-boom sheeting system looks like it allows you to better decouple your sheet tension and outhaul tension.

I think I'll try turning the tube into an end-boom-sheeting boom for my Mk IV. Thanks for the idea. It will be interesting to see if it breaks without all of that reinforcement that I noticed on the Bimare XJ boom.

Geoff,

On my A2, the mainsheet goes to the end of the boom and sheet tension also forces mast rotation, the rotation being limited. This mast rotation control is very important to tuning the A2 rig. The mainsail is attached to the boom and allows outhaul adjustment independant of mainsheet tension. It all works pretty well. Personally, the mid-boom sheeting systems felt awkward when I tacked because I have always had mainsheets that went to the end of the boom or mainsail. Others swear by the mid-boom system. You see about everything on the A-Class cats.

Right now I am enjoying not having a spinnaker too much!

My rig time has been reduced to almost instantaneous and the boat still really moves downwind. I know I am not sailing as deep, but I have been surprised by how much the boat feels like my previous spin boat (I-17R) going downwind (heat it up fall off etc.).

GeoffS,



There has been a number of things that the Michigan F17 Fleet has done to make set-up and take-down time shorter. It takes significantly less time for me with my 2006 F17 than it did with my 2000. Lots of quick connects (tiller cross bar ends, boom-to-mast, rotator arm to rotator control line, rotation control lines on platform to rotation control lines on boom, spinnaker pole to bridle, mainsail to boom, mainsheet to boom) that make the setup sweet. I also have found a way to keep spinnaker sheet on the platform threaded thru the blocks while still retaining mid-sheet attachment to clew of spinnaker. The whole spinnaker rig stays with the spin pole. It is WAY quicker than what I did with my 2000 F17.

Thank you! I was just joking..

Re: Split outhaul/mainsheet- These work nicely on a CF sailboard mast converted to a boom. The further you separate these 2 connections, the more you bend any boom. Keep the 2 close (6 cm- 2.4 inches) and even a puny thin-wall aluminum boom will be ok. Reinforce it if it looks too bendy- before you break it is best!
NOTE: If you put up a different sail with longer or shorter foot, then change the length of the little retaining line- end of boom to the mainsheet.