What happens when a Boom Vang goes Boom?
Southern Princess
John & Irene Hunt
Fri 14 Mar 2008 18:01
|
Friday 14th March 2008
06:37S 102:46W
Well not a lot really. I was asleep in my bunk to
be woken by a rhythmic kerbang/kerclunk/kerbang etc. An ear to the mast revealed
that might be the source but there again apart from the furler foil inside the
mast, nothing could be really making that kind of noise.
The Princess voiced the opinion that it was coming
from the boom. We are sensitive about the boom as we bent it coming across the
Atlantic and while we have patched it we still have a 3" to 5" bend in it.
Anyway investigations continued and then I noticed that where the boom vang
joined the base of the mast that each time the boat rolled and the mail sail
took up some slack, this join would jerk sideways and voila we found the
culprit. This connection is a bolt through a snug hole and now we have a bolt
through an ovoid hole that just keeps getting bigger. We have managed to
stabilise the boom with out the boom vang with a Heath Robinson series of
blocks, barber haulers and pulleys.
Beneteau builds a great yacht but a lot of the
equipment on them is specified for day sailing in the Mediterranean and some
parts just can not stand up to the rigor of long distant sailing. Just shot an
email off to Tahiti to see if we can get it fixed there and if not we have a
mate coming from NZ and I will get him to have one made.
The trade winds are really here and we have been
tromping along at 9 knots since yesterday and our weather man in Perth, Bruce
Buckley recons they will go on for some days yet. Fantastic sailing with the
wind just aft of the port beam. Bit rolly in the galley however the girls are
turning out some great food. Distance run in the last 24 hours is 207nm. Great
stuff!
Cheers
JH
|