Boom Gallows

[eepstein]

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We launched Dessie today and got to sail with the new Boom Gallows for the first time.

James made it for me to protect the solar panels. I have only once sailed on a boat with boom gallows, back in the 1970s. It seemed like a practical idea.

Well, now that I have one, I could almost rank it up there with an autopilot and windless. It sure makes life easier.

I no longer need a toping lift, and the boom is held in place except when the sail is raised. One safety issue I always kept in mind is wrestling with the boom while securing the mainsail. The Stack-Pack & lazy jacks make sail handling easier, but the boom still jumps around and threatens to buck me off the hard top on occasion. I also have to tighten the toping lift before dropping the sail, so that the solar cells would be safe. I loosen it so the sail can have it proper shape.

Today, I unzipped the stack pack, loosened the main sheet, and cranked up the sail. That was it. The boom popped up and I did not have to think about topping lift, raising it quickly to clear the solar cells, or removing preventers I had previously rigged to keep the boom from bouncing around.

Getting the sail down was even easier. I tightened the main sheet and dropped the main. It landed on the gallows and I pushed it into the channel. It fell in place with ease. I climbed on the hard top to zip the stack pack. As I reached out over the back end of the boom, I realized that I could use the boom for support as it wasn't going to bounce around. What a joy!

Thanks James!

[mikeandrebecca]

It looks great. There is a smaller piece of starboard (?) along the front of our panels. Is that just a larger piece of starboard that has been cut to that shape and then affixed in that location?

Not to hijack your thread butI am interested in this for a totally different reason. I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced this but in certain wind conditions the shackle at the end of the topping lift starts to create a VERY annoying vibration (sound) when it is tightened (at anchor). I have played with the topping lift tension to get it to stop, changed the traveller position and have even temporarily jammed a piece of rubber in between the shackle and the end of the boom. It's quite annoying.

[eepstein]

James made the boom gallows freestanding. It is not connected with the solar panels or their base in any way. Its also far enough aft of the cell so as not to cast a shadow.

Separately, I used a bowline to attach the topping lift, no shackle. Now I have no topping lift.

[thinwater]

I'm confused and perhaps I am not the only one:

1. How do you reef without the TL to take the load? Yes, I know it can be done with single-line reefing, but I have had jams and like the redundancy.

2. How do you lower sail if you are not dead into the wind? I frequently do this, for example if I will be trolling under jib only. The engine is not running. The same could be true in really rough conditions, when getting dead into the wind might not be a good choice. I also single hand a lot, and the auto pilot will not always keep the boat dead in the wind in rough water, unless I motor hard, which is not a good option.

3. Are we certain the hardtop can manage the load of the mainsheet winched down? Yes, I know you will be gentle, but it is something to consider. I have not studied your hard top; perhaps it is stronger than the PDQ 32 hard top.

I secure my boom with a ~ 6' loop from the end of the boom to a small cleat located ~ 4' off the centerline. I can use this as a boom gallows when lowering, but it seems easier to drop if I let the boom float.

[eepstein]

Good questions. Here are my thoughts...

>>1. How do you reef without the TL to take the load? Yes, I know it can be done with single-line reefing, but I have had jams and like the redundancy.

I usually don't use the topping lift when reefing, as it seems to form a pocket in the sail shape when I do. I supposed I might if there was a load on the main, and as the topping lift is now a second halyard and handy, I can grab it easily if needed.

>>2. How do you lower sail if you are not dead into the wind? I frequently do this, for example if I will be trolling under jib only. The engine is not running. The same could be true in really rough conditions, when getting dead into the wind might not be a good choice. I also single hand a lot, and the auto pilot will not always keep the boat dead in the wind in rough water, unless I motor hard, which is not a good option.

I just haul in the main sheet to the point that the boom is over the gallows (not off of the hard top) which is only in a run anyway. The gallows stretches the entire width of the hard top.

>>3. Are we certain the hardtop can manage the load of the mainsheet winched down? Yes, I know you will be gentle, but it is something to consider. I have not studied your hard top; perhaps it is stronger than the PDQ 32 hard top.

My hard top is almost as strong as the later models - although probably not enough to move the traveller to. As for winching down the mainsheet, I hadn't winched the mainsheet down hard against the toping lift, as I felt it puts too much strain on the topping lift, mast hardware, etc. rather I rigged two preventers to the davit arch to keep the boom from jumping about. The reduced the load. Now I can just strap it to the the hard top or still use the preventers. The load on the gallows/hard top is at most 50% of boom and sail. That's not very much. And in doing this I took all the topping lift/boom load off of the mast and standing rigging.

I was really tickled by the convenience of having the gallows. After a few windy days, I will post what I learn.

Its blowing on the Bay today and I have heading out in a few minutes.

All the best,
Eric