Boom Extension

Anyone who has ever sailed a Bayfield 29 with wheel steering can tell you that the mainsheet was designed specifically to throw the helmsman on their butt whenever they make a mistake. If the mainsheet was centered, then it ran right thru the helmsman. It drove me nuts that first two times I sailed the boat, and I knew that their was no way I could live with it.

A neighboring Bayfield says that he just leaves the mainsheet out to either side depending on the tack, which leaves the helmsman free, but he admits that it diminishes sail performance, and has to be moved around when tacking. Other than that, there seems to be only three ways to combat this poor design. One is to add a few inches to the boom so that the sheet is farther aft. It still interferes with the helmsman, but not as bad. Second is to move the mainsheet to the cabin top, with an attachment on either side, basically two mainsheets that control the boom. The third, and probably the best idea, is to convert back to a tiller. They all have their pros and cons. My preference would have been to go to a tiller, and maybe one day that is what will happen, but for now I took what, to my mind, was the simplest and least expensive solution, I extended the boom by 16".

It was hot yesterday too. Temp 29 degC, humidex 34 degC, sun screaming right at me the whole time. After 6 hours in it, I was done. At least I wasn't fibreglassing.

Started by fishing the boom so that I could put the reefing lines, toping lift, and outhaul in. I am not happy with the current set up, but I'll change it later when I figure out what I want. I just wanted to have those lines in the boom because it would be so much easier to fish them through while the end of the boom was missing.

Then I mocked everything up, figured out what I was going to do, and dove in, drilling holes and filling them with bolts or rivets. I had had a fabricator make the extension for me in the spring, out of 1/8" aluminum. Two 16" inserts for the boom, and then a two piece unit that went over them, and then welded before it left the shop. I had looked at the way others had extended their boom, and then used their ideas to come up with a design that I was happy with, and this turned out better than I had expected.

 Here is the inserts. The first 8" slides in the boom, and is riveted on to the sides of the boom in three places. Everything fit so well, that I don't think the rivets are providing any real strength, they just make sure it doesn't slip around.

 Then the tag lines go through the extension, and it goes over top of the two stiffeners.

 With the end cap and rollers riveted on, and the mainsheet attachment bolted, we have boom extension.

 And here it is done. All riveted, and the lines run. It turned out much better than I had originally expected, and that makes me even happier. I still need to figure out how to rig all the lines in a way that I am happy with. I think I may put all the mainsail handling lines to the cockpit, and all the headsail lines to the mast, but no decision has been made yet. I personally like everything at the mast, but the argument for staying in the cockpit during rough weather is wearing on me.

Its hard to see the old attachment point. I left it on there so that if anything structural ever happened to the extension, I could revert back to the original setup really quick. Also makes a good attachment point for preventer, maybe, it is a bit farther aft than I would like. But more importantly, the mainsheet is 16" aft of where it was, and you can tell by the picture what a difference this is going to make.

While I was doing all this stuff yesterday, the mainsail was up, to make it easier. But I noticed that there was a big pucker in my new sail. That would be really bad since I sewed it. I had accidentally left my tack shackle on my old main when I sold it, and the one I put in its place temporarily is a little long, so that seems to be what the problem is. Worse case scenario I have to resew the tack corner after removing some material, but I don't think it is that bad. Releasing a little tension on the main halyard made the pucker go away, so cross fingers, its a simple fix.

Off gallivanting for couple of days, but hope to be back at it by Friday. The way things have been going, I'll be lucky to get the boat out this summer. Ughhh.... I want to sail my boat, damn it!