Boom Vang for a cd 31

[Phil Shedd]

This past weekend was a great sailing weekend. A group of us went from Saint John to St Andrews via the Bay of Fundy . The distance is about 50 km. When we left SJ around 9 am we headed west with a north east wind. When the tide changed we were doing 6.5 to 7 knots over the ground . The weather cleared as we got near St Andrews. We arrived around 6 30 pm. A great day .

On our return we did the trip in two legs because of the tides. We had bags of wind going home 15 to 20 knots with guests to 25. The wind was north so this put us on a broad reach. With so much wind I would have liked to have had a boom vang and adjustable traveler. This would allow me to flatten and lower the main sail on the move . More wind will spill out of the top of the sail and it will reduce weather helm..

Has any body put a boomvang on a CD31? Was it hard to do? I have looked at this and think it can be done.. The traveler will take a little more work but it also can be done.

The second leg we had even more wind and ended up motoring the last part as the wind was almost on the nose with gusts to 35 knots.

We stayed two nights in St Andrews . We had a great day of sailing and food on Passamaquoddy Bay. A couple pics from the lay over day .






Phil
Best weekend sailing of the season

[barfwinkle]

Phil somewhere I have a copy of instructions which I obtained from some one years ago about installing a vang on CDs. I put one on Rhapsody.

I thought the the document had been loaded on the CDSOA web site, but I cant find it. Maybe Cathy will chime in here and tell us a) if it is here and b) how to find it.

If it is not on the site and IF I can find my copy, I'll be more than happy to make it available.

It is a simple process once you acquire the material and the document I refer to gives the measurements necessary (ie from the base of the mast up and from the forward end of the boom aft).

We'll see if Cathy (or anyone else) knows where that info is located.

Fair Winds

[Anthony P. Jeske]

Here you go:

http://www.jibeho.org/vang.htm

The most cost effective performance improvement you can add to your boat!

Good Luck,
Tony Jeske

[barfwinkle]

dat would be da one!

Fair Winds

[Phil Shedd]

Tony

Thanks for that information. The sheet is not that clear on the screen but prints well. I am off to Maine next week and plan a stop at Robinhood to get some other parts and will ask about the bails. Spartan does not show them on there web site.

Have a good weekend. We are going to get a bit of Hanna on Sunday .

Thanks again

Phil

[Dean Abramson]

Phil,

Here is the vang on my 31. In this shot, it is being used as a preventer, and is clipped on to the little bale on the stanchion base.

[img]http://www.mainephoto.com/folios/MsclRd ... 27.900.jpg[/img]

In this older shot, you can see the bale at the mast.

[img]http://www.mainephoto.com/folios/Exodus-045.JPG[/img]

I hope this is helpful. Or are you talking about a rigid vang...?

My boat is coming out by the end of the month. It is so sad.

Dean

[Phil Shedd]

Dean

Your vang is just what I want ( so look out) . I am sure that a vang will help sail trim and improving performance. I would also like to have the traveler adjustable . This would help with helm.

I crew on race night on a Mirage 33. The skipper has it rigged so with small adjustments in the main sheet and traveler there is no helm. I have seen us with full main and a good size jib in a good blow going like stink and the wheel had no helm .

To be able to adjust you sails so not to have any helm would be great but also it makes it a lot easer on the autohelm.

We haul out on Sept 28 ( going early this year) . Just came back from changing the oil. Went very well this year no mess or spilled oil at all. Next weekend I hope to go out and over night and that will be it for this year.

The good thing is next year I hope to get down your way some time in August.

Thanks for the pictures

Phil

[Jim Cornwell]

Can any of the original contributors to this old thread refresh the links and/or images of the boom vang setup? They've all wandered off into cyberspace. Thanks! Jim

[Dean Abramson]

Jim,

My pix are back up.

Dean

[Kevin Kaldenbach]

Is it ok to tie off a preventer on a stanchion base? If it is it will make life easer

[Dean Abramson]

I think that this is not considered the best of practices, actually. The stanchion and its backing are not made for the stress that a big-time accidental jibe might bring.

But having said that, I do this all the time. I think of it as sort of deep back-up. When I am sailing downwind, I am constantly aware of where the wind is. I do not go downwind on autopilot. I stand at the wheel and feel the wind on the back of my neck. The vang is pulled down pretty tight, so if there were a jibe, it would not get a big run before it came up short and put the stress on.

I have trained myself that if the main even flutters, I turn to windward immediately. (That is, the side the main's not on.) I mainly use the vang as preventer this way when I am wing and wing, which I am doing without a pole on the headsail. So a quick turn to windward will not have major bad effect, other than maybe collapsing the jib.

I do not think of the preventer as a way to "set it and let it." On the contrary, when I am in that mode, I am at my most vigilant.

But I would rather have some boat damage if, in a sudden shift, that was the extra second I needed to yell "duck!" and not kill someone.

I cannot endorse using the stanchion base, but I am pretty sure that a lot of us do this. I am comfortable with it.

Dean

[Steve Laume]

Dean, I am in your camp with using the stanchion base for the vang preventer in mild conditions.

I also have another bail at the end of the boom. From there I can lead a preventer forward to the bow cleats. For the price of a bail and some line your boom is then well secured. Not as easy to set up each time but it takes the worry out of things.

I not sure where the biggest problem lies with going to the stanchion base. Although the backing plates for the stanchions are only a couple of thin strips of Alum, the deck and hull joint in that area is very solid as are the bases themselves. I worry more about thefact that in that configuration there is virtually no give in the vang preventer. A line from the end of the boom, run up to the bow and back to the cockpit has lots of shock absorbing stretch. It is also not attempting to snap your boom with all the leverage applied to the first third attachment point.

I like the boom end bail set up for lots of things. It works for a preventer. I clip the boom off center to the pushpit when at anchor to keep it out of the way and stop it from swinging. It can be rigged outboard with main sheet and preventer to hang the dinghy to keep the little one from bumping the mother ship on windless nights. If you sung the dink up tight it works as a roll stopper. You can lift with it. You could also introduce heel if the water ever got a little too thin by adding some water to the dink. Hammock attachment point?

Lots of good stuff, Steve.

[Jim Cornwell]

Thanks for renewing the images, Dean! This looks very straightforward - it's exactly what I had hoped to see. Given that a vang is such an essential sail control, I wonder why it wasn't original equipment. Perhaps it was a dealer option, to keep the base price down - several hundred bucks, all together. Any conflicts with the mainsheet on starboard tack with this setup?

On the related subject of using the vang as a preventer, does anyone go to the trouble of rigging a "proper" preventer - that is, boom end to stem? If so, what does that rig look like? What sort of line and fittings are suitable? I'm picturing a snap shackle at boom end and a snatch block somewhere at the stem. Would that be correct? Jim.

[Dean Abramson]

Jim,

There are no conflicts that I can recall, sitting here at my desk. Why are you thinking it may be different on starboard tack? Seems to me it is the same only opposite.

I have never rigged a full-scale preventer, but it is on my list to rig one, and have it ready if needed.

Wanna see the rest of the list...?!

:-)

Dean

[Jim Cornwell]

No, no, no! Please keep your list to yourself, Dean. I can't afford to add another thing to my own list, which is already way too long for one also engaged in a never-ending DIY house renovation. Even the boom vang probably won' happen until next season!

I thought the vang would interfere with the mainsheet on starboard tack because the sheet leads from the last block on the boom slightly to port to a turning block on the coachroof (at least on my boat). On starboard tack the vang would pivot in that direction, possibly crossing the sheet, i thought. On port tack it would swing clear in the other direction. But if you haven't seen it happen, it must not be an issue.