Proper boomvang and set up

[Dick Barthel]

In line with the recent thread on stupid questions, etc:

[I could do a lot of research but why when there is so much collective smarts on this board.]

I admit to very limited knowledge in the use of a boom vang. I know its important for downwind sailing to keep the boom down and I imagine it might be a fine tune instrument for other points of sail. But I've been sailing Dream Weaver 3 summers now and I hate to admit it but I have never adjusted the vang even once! There has simply been too much else to learn.

Now I'm getting ready to learn. Unfortunately, before I learn I will need a new Vang. Peter Drake, a sailing buddy of mine, had a lot of adjectives for DW's current vang and none of them were good!

My questions at the moment are not so much how to use a boomvang but how should it be set up for use? Should I replace my original with a new but similar one or have there been significant improvements in the past twenty years? To operate a boom vang I presume you have to go up to the mast to tighten it down and also to release it? If there is a way to operate it from the cockpit and is that also true if you have a dodger?

The little I know now it seems you have to be able to pull the line down and up to be able to engage and disengage the cam. That would be the motion I can't see being able to do from the cockpit.

Thanks everyone and I hope this thread proves interesting for someone other than me.

Dick

[Carter Brey]

Hey, Dick--

It's real easy to set up your vang to be adjustable from the cockpit. If there's a cam attached to the tackle, remove it and relocate it to the edge of the sea hood or to wherever else you want it. Otherwise just buy your own tackle with a separate cam and install the same way. The cam should be through-bolted, but I think SS fender washers are plenty strong-- I wouldn't bother with a backing plate.

[img]http://pws.prserv.net/cbrey/6-18-20040002.jpeg[/img]

[polyphemus]

I've been wanting to install a boom vang. Any advice on how to install a horseshoe shaped bail into the mast to attach the vang. Does one just drill into the mast? Is that in anyway going to affect the integrity of the mast?

Sean

[Carter Brey]

Sean,

Yes, unless you have a mast collar, you have to drill into the mast. Since you may have some fairly important wires passing through there, it's a job best done with the mast unstepped.

The bail attaches to a bolt that goes through the mast. The size of the bolt (and the bail, for that matter) depends on the size of the spar, of course. For example, on my CD25, I shackled the vang to a mast collar but had to drill the boom for a bail. It took a bolt 3/8" x 3", I believe. I measured the distance from the gooseneck on both sides and drilled a separate hole on each side, using a 1/8" pilot bit first.

The hardware-- bail, bolt and nuts-- is available through Rig Rite. Follow their links for the Spartan mast sections and find the size for your boat.

Best of luck,
Carter

[Steve Laume]

Another way to align holes in a round or other shaped object that does not have flats to use a square: As long as the sides are parallel like a mast or boom section, even spinnaker poles, you can use a piece of paper. This is a trick a pipe fitter told me about, years ago. You simply take a piece of paper with a straight edge that is long enough to go around the object more than once. Wrap it around the spar and just align the edge. If the paper is laying flat and the edge is lined up you will have a near perfect line around the object. It is much easier and more accurate than measuring both sides, especially if the holes you are trying to make are a long way from a square end and or there is other hardware in the way. Just another use for trees in our paperless society, Steve.

[marka]

When I installed my bails (boom & mast), I included provisions to prevent crushing the spar due to over tightening. For the mast I used 1/2" copper pipe insulated from the mast and for the boom I used a block of wood suitabley shaped with a hole drilled in it.

MA

[polyphemus]

n/m

[rtbates]

Dick:

On Seraph, our 25D, I can adjust the boom vang from the companionway steps. The vang is a simple 4 part tackle with the jam cleat at the boom. I simply leave enough line tale so that it falls through the companionway opening. From there I can grab it, reach forward and give it a tug. Having said that I've found that in practice if I haul in on the vang while close hauled I just leave it there. I suppose IF I were 'racing' in light air I might want the boom to lift some to add fullness to the main, but I'd rather sit back and have another cigar and a beer so I just leave the vang tight all the time. If the vang is not secured going down wind the boom will oscillate up and down when.

If you want to get fancy there are solid vangs that will also hold the boom UP as well as down, thus eliminating the need for a topping lift.

[Rob]

Use a stainless or aluminum bolt that extends through the spar and is threaded only on the part that sticks out of the spar. That would probably be a 3/8 inch bolt 3 and 1/2 inches long with 1/2 inch of thread on the end for your boom. Use a locking or stop nut.
The lack of threads prevents one from crushing the boom. The stop nut will not come off with use.

Do not use a copper tube as spacing in an aluminum spar. It will rot a hole in the spar in short order. My dad dropped a penny on the bottom of his upside down aluminum boat in December of 72; May of 73 there was a penny sized hole through the hull. We fixed it with epoxy and aluminum flashing.

Fair winds

Rob

[barfwinkle]

I thought there was a copy of the instructions on the board somewhere, but I cant find them.

I have them but they are on the boat. It gives the measurements for most of the productions line as to where to place the bail on the mast and on the boom.

IF I remember, I'll bring it home this coming weekend, but surely someone else has it as well. I sure thought it was on the web somewhere, but alas no luck.

Goof Luck

[Zeida]

FWIW: Since I did not like the idea of drilling any more holes in the mast nor boom, I use a ribbon of canvas strap, the kind truckers use to secure their VERY heavy loads, and made a loop with it around the foot of the mast and another around the appropriate area of the boom. They have been in place for 7years now and not a hint of wear. No drilling. From those loops I connected the self-put-together vang arrangement and it works just fine on my C0-33. When I had the smaller CD-25 I had a similar arrangement, but much simpler. The line from the boom canvas bail was attached directly to the stanchion base on whichever side I needed it to be. In favor of simplicity, If I ever needed to secure the mast on either tack for downwind sailing, I just stepped up to it and did it.

[Anthony P. Jeske]

Hi;
Here's a link to the Spartan Marine vang installation guide. It covers most Cape Dorys:

http://www.jibeho.org/breezy.htm Good ... San Diego

[Dean Abramson]

I haven't yet played with the vang on my 31, but on my 25D, whenever I was sailing downwind and wanted to pull the boom down, I couldn't budge it. The 31's vang is lighter weight than the old boat's was, so it looks hopeless.

In practice, do you need to pull the vang tight while sailing upwind, and then fall off? Or do I just need better vang tackles? At this point, I have no spare winches to run the vang's line to.

Dean

[Joe Myerson]

Dean,

This was the first season that I actually used the vang that came with my 25D, but my impression is that you wouldn't want to pull hard enough on the vang to require a winch.

If you really want to flatten your sail, you'd probably be better off using a Cunningham. I use the vang to keep the boom from lifting when I'm sailing off the wind. Usually I slacken it when I'm sailing upwind. But often, like Randy, I'm too busy enjoying myself sailing to bother adjusting the vang once it's engaged.

Am I correct in this?

--Joe

[RIKanaka]

FWIW: Since I did not like the idea of drilling any more holes in the mast nor boom, I use a ribbon of canvas strap, the kind truckers use to secure their VERY heavy loads, and made a loop with it around the foot of the mast and another around the appropriate area of the boom. They have been in place for 7years now and not a hint of wear. No drilling. From those loops I connected the self-put-together vang arrangement and it works just fine on my C0-33.

Zeida,

I read your post last fall but had trouble visualizing what your vang setup looked like. What exactly is the "ribbon of canvas strap" that you refer to and do you use a single loop or more around the boom? If you could post a picture, I'd greatly appreciate it. I bought a bail to mount on the boom (and a padeye to mount at the base of the mast track) but I'd like to try a nonmarring and movable setup on the boom before permanently installing a bail.