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Skinny booms are awesome, are they ?
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adywind



Joined: 08 Jan 2012
Posts: 665

PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 11:52 am    Post subject: Skinny booms are awesome, are they ? Reply with quote

I thought that I'm not a big fan of the skinny type /guess you know what I mean Wink /, but maybe I am after all! At least when it comes to windsurfing rig components. It have been the skinny masts first that I fell in love with right away and now the booms!
So yesterday I tried for the very first time my brand new 26mm boom-RRD MR T9 140-200 /aluminum/ and boy, what a difference compared to my old 29 mm one. The session itself has been terrible-very gusty wind, underpowered most of the time /my fault/ and water and air temps just above freezing. Usually after such struggle my hands would have been calloused with the old boom, but not this time and I don't think my arms got really fatigued either /in contras to my legs/.
So now I have this feeling of: it's just too good to be true. Is it all rainbows and unicorns with these skinny booms or am I up for some bad surprise?



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nw30



Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast

PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My 'ex' had some skinny booms (15-20 years ago), and I would use them every now and then, I loved them, they almost eliminated hand fatigue, but the booms went with the wife, haven't had any since.
If I ever manage to wear out or break one of my booms, that seem to last forever, I will get some carbon skinny booms next.
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dllee



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5328
Location: East Bay

PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had them since '95 or so, but kept going back to big diameter, although maybe not quite as big as Gorilla.
Even for surf sailing, I don't need them, yet they feel nice, although a lot of harness lines don't really fit them.
Currently using standard diameter on all 3 of my booms.
Maybe it's the honeymoon period, maybe it's for real, or maybe it's just justifying the cost.
Same with RDM's. I had the first sets around '90 from PX, still have 5 pieces, but for 99% of my windsurfing, use standards.
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kevinkan



Joined: 07 Jun 2001
Posts: 1661
Location: San Francisco

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

boom arm diameter is likely a personal preference, but one thing to note is that all the companies seem to measure the actual grip size differently... some companies do the tube size without the grip (?) and some do it with the grip included. Anyway, just thought I'd pass that along. I just broke out the calipers and measured three booms in the hand area with grip:

Streamlined Carbon 140-190
measured: ~30mm
advertised: 29mm

Maui Sails Carbon 140-200
measured: ~30mm
advertised: 30mm

Aeron/Goya Super Skinny 140-190
measured: ~28mm
advertised: 24.5mm (big difference here... I assume their spec is w/o grip)

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Kevin Kan
Sunset Sailboards, San Francisco CA
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grantmac017



Joined: 04 Aug 2016
Posts: 946

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stupid question: why do we even put neoprene on booms? Why not a thin textured rubber coating similar to truck bed liner?
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kevinkan



Joined: 07 Jun 2001
Posts: 1661
Location: San Francisco

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

not a stupid question at all. i'm sure there are alternatives to EVA foam grip. one company in the Gorge that made trick carbon booms maybe 15 years ago only put a bead of foam on the inside curve of the boom.
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Kevin Kan
Sunset Sailboards, San Francisco CA
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cgoudie1



Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Posts: 2597
Location: Killer Sturgeon Cove

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also remember a production carbon boom with a molded texture
that had no EVA grip about 10 years ago. Haven't ever seen those on the
water though.

To answer the question, it's probably a matter of production cost,
durability, and weight, but I'd give a boom with spray on truck bed liner
a try. Back in the day, we used to regrip our booms, and EVA was "fairly"
easy to deal with. I don't do that any more.

-Craig

grantmac017 wrote:
Stupid question: why do we even put neoprene on booms? Why not a thin textured rubber coating similar to truck bed liner?
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kevinkan wrote:
one company in the Gorge that made trick carbon booms maybe 15 years ago only put a bead of foam on the inside curve of the boom.

I really liked those booms. Tried to buy them after testing them for months (magazine testing), but they wanted almost list price. "Carbon Composites" or something like that.
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wdsurf



Joined: 22 May 1999
Posts: 335

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:42 pm    Post subject: Booms Reply with quote

Carbon creations Wes Lapp.use the super skinny GOYAS love them Exclamation
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 9:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I toured their shop in the Gorge, probably in the early to mid-90s. They seemed to be on a high tech route going with interesting carbon layups using unidirectional prepreg materials, but their products never seemed to gain a notable retail presence.
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