J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Repair of boom slot

Last night, the clew slug in the boom blew out through the slot, yielding the aluminum at the slot, making it useless for retaining the slug.Luckily I had a safety strap around the boom and clew ring.

Has this happened to anyone else, and do you have a quick and dirty fix (i.e., short of replacing the boom)?

One of my old mains doesn't even have a slug. There is a velcro band that goes 3 times around the boom through the clew of main. Outhaul still attaches to the clew. A sail tie would probably do the trick too.

I have stainless steel plates screwed onto the boom that prevent this. The same thing that happened to you happened to another boat in this area and installing these plates prevented it recurring. I can find out where he ordered it, if you would like; I believe it was RigRite or Rigging Only.

The photo below (the best I could find, this is the boat when I bought it) shows the plates at the end of the boom.



[This message has been edited by Jason King (edited 05-29-2008).]

I had that happen on my old boom as well. I used a velcro strap, as stated above. I use that now on my new boom as well, just to ensure that doesn't happen again.

Scott,

You use the strap alone, or in combo with a slug?

On Planxty (hull #205), we use the strap alone.

The strap alone. It's worked great for years now.

I have the stainless cheek plates as well, but they did not prevent my clew slug from blowing out of the track and parting the outhaul last night. The wind was in the low end of the #3 range, so the main was fully loaded.

Upon inspection back at the dock, it became apparent that a previous owner had moved the cheeks down away from the slot by about 2mm. The lateral force on the main caused the windward edge of the slug to pry out of the slot, distorting the aluminum.

So, be sure the cheeks are mounted flush with the slot AND use a tie-down strap for redundancy. Hindsight...