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Because I recently destroyed my rig, I'm rebuilding a new mast. I'm taking the opportunity to move away from the bolt-rope (which I like for performance but which is difficult to raise and lower) and go to a Harken Batt-car system for the main.

I've got the Harken cars and track now, and so I'm able to confirm that it bolts directly onto the mast as advertised, and that the head board track car should be more than sufficiently strong to act as a gooseneck bracket on the mast. The goal here is to replace the gooseneck bracket with a removable car so the entire mainsail and boom can be removed as a unit.

I'm also building a new boom out of a 10'6" length of 2" I.D. carbon tube. My main is loose-footed, and I'll have a short section of the Harken track on the clew-end of the boom with the slider replaced by a harken car for outhaul tension, because the track is easily bolted onto the boom tube. Goals for the carbon boom are (a) be completely round for rolling up the main and (b) be a lot lighter if it hits me. It's actually cheaper than a stock boom as well, but the stock boom didn't have to be replaced.

I'll be on a bit of a hold until the mast arrives in a few weeks. In the meantime I'll build the boom and document the batt-car system.

Will the boom be damaged if it is dropped on deck, say if the topping lift fails, or you forget about hooking it up before you lower the sail?
Costs so far?
Painting issues?

Ix

Ixneigh wrote:Will the boom be damaged if it is dropped on deck, say if the topping lift fails, or you forget about hooking it up before you lower the sail?

My topping lift remains attached at all times. Has 2 clips, one for sailing and another for storage (headroom). It's never failed and the boom as never dropped.
However, I am curious about your question. Is carbon more fragile?

Costs so far?
Painting issues?

Ix

Yea, what does the spar look like in the raw? Does it need pain?

--Russ

Did u check out the Ronstan 6mm series system its trackless & a lot lighter uses ur masts existing luff grove I'd love to try this system but believe its pricey

J

Ixneigh wrote:Will the boom be damaged if it is dropped on deck, say if the topping lift fails, or you forget about hooking it up before you lower the sail?
Costs so far?
Painting issues?

Ix

The spar is much harder than the deck. It's a triaxial weave general purpose tube, so it's lay-up is designed to be strong in compression, torsion, and deformation. I've got a 6" section cut off of it that I'll use for destruction testing. I expect no damage issues.

Cost was $470 plus shipping for an 11' tube cut to 10'6". In retrospect, there was no need to cut it to match the stock boom length. I used Rockwest Composites out of Sandy, UT.

The spar comes sanded for painting. It's such a beautiful tube that I'm loathe to paint it, but it's going to need UV resistance.

I got the spreaders from these guys as well, matched to the I.D. and O.D. of the original aluminum. They were $70/each cut to length, and so I have two 27" tubes to figure out a use for.

Highlander wrote:Did u check out the Ronstan 6mm series system its trackless & a lot lighter uses ur masts existing luff groove I'd love to try this system but believe its pricey

J

I did look at it, but I made the decision to go with the track so I could have a sliding gooseneck on cars. The cars allow many benefits: Instant dropping of the main, Reefing the boom up the mast if desired, taking the entire mainsail and boom assembly off as a unit, and the ability to move the sail up and down on the mast. I'm going to set it up so I can uphaul the gooseneck until the boom is raised and parallel to the mast for storage off deck and completely out of the way. We'll see if that's actually practical.

Once I have this system worked out completely with my bermuda mainsail, I'm going to build a gaff-rigged sail that can be swapped on and off as a unit. I'll post on that separately.

So if I understand what you are doing, you will have a loose footed main
and you are going to use roller boom reefing?

My old venture has roller boom reefing.
There were instances where I would just roll the main on the boom
and haul the whole thing away but it was rare.

Trying to reef that thing single handed was a clown act that I soon
gave up on. Even with 2 crew, in wind it was a struggle.
Maybe it was just my novice technique at the time.

How would yours be easier to handle ?

topcat0399 wrote:So if I understand what you are doing, you will have a loose footed main
and you are going to use roller boom reefing?

My old venture has roller boom reefing.
There were instances where I would just roll the main on the boom
and haul the whole thing away but it was rare.

Trying to reef that thing single handed was a clown act that I soon
gave up on. Even with 2 crew, in wind it was a struggle.
Maybe it was just my novice technique at the time.

How would yours be easier to handle ?

No, this is not a roller reefing boom. My main is loose footed, but it will be slab reefed and lowered onto the boom the same as any slug sail. The difference is that the mast gate is below the gooseneck, and the gooseneck is on a car, so when I remove the boom to trailer, it slides out the bottom and I can roll the sail onto it. That's' all.

Matt

ahhhhh...Bach! as Radar O'Reilly was heard to say during a hot date with an egghead.

Watching your recovery from your latest calamity with keen interest.
Keep the updates coming please.

Matt, weren't you talking about going with carbon mast also? Was that too pricey?

vizwhiz wrote:Matt, weren't you talking about going with carbon mast also? Was that too pricey?

Me: "I'm thinking about going to a carbon fiber mast."
Adjuster: "Yeah, they shatter. Not easy bends like aluminum. We had a customer get stabbed through the forearm by a shard of carbon fiber mast. That was expensive."
Admiral: "What? Really?"
Adjuster: "Yeah. Like imagine wood, but super sharp."
Admiral: "Wow, Ok we're not doing that."
Me: "Mast accidents are really very rare though."
Admiral: "Well you've had two in three years."

And just like that, my carbon mast plans evaporated.

How's that saying go?
Great plans of mice and men..........often go down the toilet when your woman finds out about it.

LOL...that is just two funny...well sort of

I do have a question for the composites guys...

How do you drill carbon fiber cleanly? I'm using the 6" cut-off from the boom section to test drilling and work out my gooseneck assembly, and I find that while I can drill the carbon just fine, it does splinter a bit like wood when you drill, especially on the breakthrough. Basically it drills a lot like wood. I guess the solution is to back it with something while cutting. I suppose I could probably find a 2" perfect dowel to insert and drill into, but is there any simpler way?

It's not super problematic, but It's not clean. I'm using titanium drill bits BTW.

You got it Matt- backing up with wood (or something) is the best; a layer of tape (one or both sides) also helps, but not nearly as well, and it's hard to access in the middle of the tube. The tape will also help prevent the drill from wandering when you start. A small pilot hole also helps with that. Didn't I already post some of this before? Split the dowel and push a wedge (like a cedar shim, or several) in to the split to spread and keep it snug at the points where the hole will be.

If you wanted to get fancy, you could drill a 2” hole in a block of wood (hole saw), cut it in half through the middle of the hole, and drill (precisely, radially) a hole through the wood . Then clamp (or use deck screws) that to the outside of the tube as a drill guide, and to minimize splitting on the outside.

An epoxy boss, poured in the area of the hole ahead of time, on the inside, (reachable only for holes near the ends) is an option for the anal-retentive , but might be appropriate in some places too. Make a dam (can use plasticene or similar), hole side down, and fill it as thick as you need. Should be zero splitting on break-through then.

A drill press will minimize chatter. Slow steady pressure, and ease up as you break through. Drill speed will be determined more by the amount of chatter (too fast will give you more chatter) than by the actual calculation of rpm based on cutting speed of the material.

You can also start by drilling the hole smaller than it needs to be, and open it to finish size with a wheel (sized a bit smaller than the finished hole) on the end of a Dremel-type tool. Will still be fuzzy, but splinters should be smaller, it will cut the individual fibres better than the drill bit, which tears them out more. Wear a disposable dust mask.

You mean titanium-coated drill bits? (Ti-N)