Boom size?

[kburnes]

I currently have one boom, an aluminum chinook 56 - 76 that I use for all my sails. I would like to buy a new boom so I wont have to constantly move the harness lines. I typically sail 4.7 - 6.5 in the gorge. My question is, is it preferable to use a large boom so that it is minimally extended? Does boom performance suffer when it is extended?
i.e. should I buy a larger boom for my largest sail or a smaller one for my smaller sails?

Thanks for your replys,

Kevin

[spyder]

the boom will be stronger if it is minimally extended. The boom should work out to its maximum setting, but there will be more flex, and it will break easier if fully extended. The drawback for minimal extension is of course, weight.

However, I wouldnt worry too much about extending it most of the way, just the last few clicks on the boom will be the weakest. The boom will take more abuse in the smaller sail range, so make sure that is optimized, esp. if you are going for wild stuff (loops, etc).

Do you just hate moving the harness lines, or could you mark the boom for each sail size ?

[isobars]

For me, hate is too strong a word to use, it IS definitely nice to just throw a boom on a rig and know the harness lines are juuuust right. Even more important is never having to de-rig one sail even partially to rig another, especially when ya suspect youll need the first one again before ya pack it all up. The extra shred time and greatly reduced hassle of a day at the beach are GREATLY enhanced by extra booms.

BTW, what the man said about boom length sounds good to me, too. Kevin must be BIG if his Gorge quiver is 4.7-6.5 (the normal Gorge quiver is 3.2-5.2), so maybe he is hard on booms.

Mike \m/

[kburnes]

Well I am 65 and 180 lbs, but mostly I sail in lighter winds and smaller swell at places like Stevenson and Event site to work on jibing. It just seems like when you get the harness lines dialed, everything else is 100 times easier.

Kevin