boom gooseneck ideas

[Ryan]

The boom on my Hughes 25 used to connect to the mast via a sliding car on the gooseneck that mated to a piece of T-track mounted on the mast. These components are quite a bit worse for the wear, so I have the chance to either redo this connection method or go with something else entirely. What is the general consensus on the best way to connect the boom to the mast? Regardless of which method I use, I will have to purchase/fabricate a new gooseneck fitting. Brion, do you sell this kind of gear or do you have a recommended supplier for it? Thanks for any help/information.

[osteoderm]

Was your boom ever equipped for roller-reefing? Many such booms have been converted to slab-reefing these days. The sliding gooseneck offers advantages, but one of the biggest ones is that it could be used with a roller boom to prevent the boom-end from dropping when reefing; instead of the clew going dropping down, the tack is "wound back up" after dropping it to the bottom of the track whilst easing the halyard prior to reefing.
Sliding goosnecks also do away with cunninghams (although i've seen both rigged together). Personally, i think a hauled gooseneck looks smarter than a hard Cunningham with all the accompanying wrinkles. On boats of your size, it's pretty straight-forward to haul the halyard 'sans winch', then use a simple gooseneck downhaul tackle to get the required luff tension.
On th'other hand... sliding goosenecks are just one more set of moving part to be attended to. In combination with a vang, you can get some annoying jam-ups. Unless your topping lift is well-set, and/or your canvaswork is low, sliding goosenecks can allow the boom to wreak havoc on your dodger, bimini, or the boom itself.
Others will likely know better than i, but as far as i know, there are no sources for new parts for the burly Merriman sliding gooseneck/roller-boom fitted to my own boat. Perhaps other manufacturers are better-supported.
However, these good ol' bronze parts are tough kit, and generally shaped to be easily reproduced by a quality foundry. So long as the parts aren't cracked or otherwise too far gone, ovalised holes can be carefully overbrazed and redrilled, or bushed with new (pressed-in) metal.
Completely replacing a gooseneck arrangement tends to be the sort of work that avalanches out of control, sometime requiring other boom/mast mods, or sail mods to accomodate changed tack offsets, etc. My advice would be to look hard at repairing your existing sliding gooseneck, so long as there's nothing about its operation or performance that particularly bothers you. Don't feel compelled to modernize for the sake of modernity!

[Ryan]

osteoderm

My boom was in fact setup for roller reefing. I have heard of problems with the siding gooseneck arrangement with respect to it's hardiness under stress, or more appropriately, it's lack thereof. However, from all the information that I can gather, this seems to be related to heavy use of solid boom vangs that put a lot of stress on the gooseneck fitting itself. Since I don't plan on using a solid vang on this boat, I am strongly considering doing just as you said and try to refinish the sliding gooseneck parts and pieces. Thanks for the advice!

Ryan

The stress on the gooseneck from a centerline vang is pretty heavy. On rigs of similar vintage, i've often seen (boom-end) mainsheets that lead slightly aft; i'm guessing that one reason for this is to help relieve the stress on the gooseneck. Also, boats of that vintage, roller-boom or not, were typically set up with either no vang at all, or with a vang/preventer intended to be set-up to a padeye or other such hardware on a side-deck, well away from the mast. Of course, this entails a bit more effort to employ, but simultaneously flattens the sail better with less exertion, and stresses the gooseneck far less.

[Jim Fulton]

My 1975 Bristol 34 has a sliding gooseneck with a boom that was originally designed for roller reefing. The boom was long since converted to slab reefing, but I have found that the sliding gooseneck has another advantage. The boom's total vertical travel is about 18". When the breeze is light, I hoist the main as far as it will go--that is, when the boom hits the upper stop on the gooseneck track. When the breeze freshens, I have found that lowering the boom (and therefore the main) to the bottom stop is like a first "half reef". Lowering the center of effort that little bit makes a noticible difference in how well the boat stands up to the breeze.

Jim Fulton

[osteoderm]

i get the feeling that it was just this sort of fiddling that resulted in "black bands" for rated boats. From there, with a fixed tack height and marked maximum head height, comes the introduction of the cunningham control (which also controls luff tension/draft, but without affecting boom angle).
On many working gaffers i've sailed, the gooseneck is fitted to a sliding post of "crab" immediately abaft of, and attached to, the mast. With the sail down, stropping the ends of the gaff to the ends of the boom lets you haul the whole works up a few feet, raising the rafters, so to speak, for any boom tent.
Few "modern" sliding goosenecks offer such vertical range of motion, but with a halyard and topping lift, it's nice to get the boom and stowed sail up just that little bit higher in port.

[Coquina]

Just found this thread while searching for info on freeing up my worm gear driven bronze roller boom gooseneck. I believe it's a Merriman Bros. and it's been seized for as long as we've owned Coquina - this is our 6th winter with her. I don't know if the previous owners ever used the roller boom to reef the main. There's one set of reef points in the main and we've used that without any problem but I single-hand a lot and it'd be handy to have this working or I'd rig a jiffy-reef system instead. Coquina is an 1962 S&S design "Lotus" class sloop, 28.5', mahogany planked on yacal frames. Lots of Merriman hardware that's working well on deck.

I've tried soaking with penetrating oil and judicious mechanical persuasion with no change. I'm thinking heat next but not sure if it's safe for the bronze.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

[Bohatyaor]

In combination with a vang, you can get some annoying jam-ups. Unless your topping lift is well-set, and/or your canvaswork is low, sliding goosenecks can allow the boom to wreak havoc on your dodger, bimini, or the boom itself.????