Boom Repair

I'm working on the boom to get it ready for another season and I've found the following problems.

First the screw that holds the metal strap for the main sheet blocks to the boom is sawing its way through the boom. How do I stop that? Click on the image to bring up a larger one.



Second the outhaul doesn't do anything when I release it. I'll pull the outhaul tight release it and the slider for the foot of the sail won't move. If I push it, it will slide down the track. I've removed the end caps and I can't see anything obviously wrong. The outhaul line looks to be in good shape. The pulleys and blocks aren't binding. The shock cord could probably be replaced but it looks like replacing it isn't easy. I'm inclined to spray everything with McLube and put it back together. Thanks

Abraham

As the bolt wears its way through the boom, the outhaul line is pinched between the bolt and the boom. This may be part of what is causing your issue with the outhaul not moving. An old shock cord may be adding to the problem, but the bolt is probably problem number one.

Jaques at Hobie says the proper repair is to buy a new boom tube. He says I'm too cheap to pony up (he's right) so my solution was to drill a new hole. I think I went in front of the old hole about one inch, but my boat is 20 miles away so I can not take a look to check. It's ugly, but mine has been this way for a few years.

Some thoughts on fixing the boom bale attachment.

First, you could just drill a new hole a few inches away from the existing hole. I wouldn't really consider this a "fix" though as you will likely have the same issue down the road.

One thought would be to drill the hole oversize in the boom and then put a sleeve around the screw. This would provide more bearing surface between the bolt and the boom extrusion. The screw for the boom bale is probably a #10 (~3/16" dia). So the idea would be to get a piece of 3/16" I.D. tubing maybe 1/4" or 5/16" O.D. cut the length of the tubing to match the outside width of the boom extrusion, drill the hole in the boom to match that O.D., then insert the sleeve inside the boom and install the boom bale with the screw passing through the sleeve.

Another option would be to use a boom bale similar to what is used on (all ?) the other Hobies. A bale with two holes per side riveted to the boom. The two rivets per side prevent the boom bale from swinging fore and aft which causes the screw to "saw" into the boom extrusion.

sm

My H20 came with a bent screw through the bail so I replaced it. The stock Hobie screw is a stainless #10-32 x 2-1/2 inches. I found one at Lowes. If you can find one that's 2-1/4 inches, I'd try that. The 2-1/2 inch length leaves about a 1/4 inch hanging out there. I think you could cut yourself on it pretty easily. I cut the excess off with a hack saw and filed down the rough edge.

I also replaced the worn shock cord inside the boom. It wasn't that tough, just a matter of drilling out the rivets on the end caps. There is a diagram on the Mariner Sails site, here's the link: http://www.mariner-sails.com/assembly.asp?id=23225 . The shock cord will be shorter than the distance you need to cover. To pull the line and shock cord all the way through the boom and around the pulleys, I tied some string to the ends and then fished it through with battens. Then I could pull the string to get the shock cord to reach to the ends of the boom as needed. The parts diagram shows that you'll need 13 1/2 feet of 3/16 line and 5 feet of 1/4 inch shock cord.

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Mark Van Doren
H16 Seabreeze #112205 (Richard Petty Signature Edition)
H14T Fantasia #47787
San Juan 28