BYYB Forums

A few weeks ago I built the mast stub. In mine, I put a piece of tubing to use as a wiring chase for the mast-top wires that then exits out of the front of the mast box.

Sadly - I didn't think ahead enough and realized a day or so ago that where my wire chase goes is also where according to the plans that I should be putting the eyebolts for the gooseneck.

My question is whether there is any reason anyone can think of why I couldn't rotate the gooseneck setup 90 degrees so that the eyebolts end up running on either side of the wiring chase?

Or - are there other alternative (home-built) rigs I could use that would also work with my situation?

The goosneck as designed will work in either orientation. (You may need to round off the edges of the tubing that is attached to the boom so it will swing far enough side to side.) But it is a stronger connection to the boom if the bolts go thru the boom side to side rather than from top to bottom. I would orient the grain on the boom so that you are going thru the grain rather than potentially splitting it by going with the grain. The stresses placed upon the goosneck laterally are far greater than they are vertically.

Andrew,

I have seen some traditional boats that use a jaw similar to the gaff jaws instead of a goose neck on the boom.

Jim

Andrew Butchart kayak karl has a jaw boom on his open weekender My World that looks and works quite well. You might ask him for info and pictures. Bud

Andrew

Here is an early picture of my boom jaw. I’ll try to find a picture of it fully rigged.
I also have a scale pattern. If it needs to be altered to fit your mast, I could draw another CAD pattern to scale. I would need your mast dimensions.

You’ll have to get Angie’s and Scott’s opinions on how well it works under sail.

Karl

Wow thanks guys, I was planing on asking about putting gaff jaws on my boom instead of a gooseneck, I was wondering if it was possable because it fits with some of my plans for my boat and Y'all answered it before I could ask.
So if it works on a Weekender it should work on a Vacationer as well shouldent it?
Thanks.

Brian.

Excellent idea on the jaws for the boom. The only concern that I would have is that it would appear that I would need to round over my mast stub at that point - or would having the inside of the boom jaws rounded work instead?

I'm trying to keep from re-building the mast stub.

I'm not really sure andrew, I know what you mean by not wanting to rebuild it though.
What I plan on doing for my mast is kinda like Craigs set up but I am going with a laminated mast, I dont know what it's really called but when I build ships in bottles the mast hinges on whats called a Hinkly Hinge. you have the two outer layers of the mast cut at an angle and the middle layer
fits inbetween the two outer layers and the mast pivots on a pin and is locked into position with another pin and the whole mast stays rounded.

Brian.

In Admiral Nelson's day, boom jaws were the common method, to keep the boom at the stick. Their advantages are, easy to build, no moving parts and they permit sideways twist (to a degree) which most modern goosenecks don't and this is compensated with extra strong construction. The disadvantages are weight, windage, noise (they'll bang around a bit), halyards and lifts don't fall cleanly past it if rigged tight to the mast and they can foul overlapping jibs sometimes during tacks.

They are salty as sin, you should try one. If you don't like it you can always buy one (Duckworks has a good one) or build one. An eye bolt and a strap is the simplest way to build one. The strap is bend around the boom end, through the mast mounted eye. A sloppy fit insures it will twist to match sail set.

Brian, the thing you've described is a tabernacle, a commonly employed device that can assist raising and lowering the pole. In the canals of Europe, tabernacles are very common, many having masts with weights at the lower end. The weight can offset the difficulty in raising. I've seen large, solid masts (12" around and bigger) being hoisted with a single hand, because the counter weight does most of the work.

One of the other advantages for me at least is that if I eliminate the gooseneck, I can take some advantage of the fact that I will have a taller than designed mast and on lighter air days have my sail up higher.

To hold the boom jaws down, I presume I'll need a line of some sort almost like a vang keeping the jaws from rising?