Has anyone converted from the rope kicker and topping lift to a Z Spar rigid vang on a 275?

John Williams

275 60 Crystal

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John

When I had my 275 Zest I looked into replacing the standard boom vang and after much research settled on the twin boom strut. I cannot remember the make but the design has been copied by other marine manufacturers. Barton's offering can be seen at

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/...s/mcs/productID/103870

 

These struts are absolutely trouble free. They are set up to hold the boom horizontal without a topping lift and flex when you apply tension with the mainsheet.

Highly recommended; in fact I am thinking of fitting some to my 325.

Regards

Don

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Hello John

I replaced the standard 4 part rope and block kicking strap on my Seal 28 with a Sparcraft spring loaded kicker.

It works great whilst sailing, I only need to tension the kicker to lift or lower the boom to adjust the tension in the leach and flatten the sail.

The only drawback is I sometimes get caught out by the fact there is no topping lift going to the end of the boom, and if I use the boom to steady myself when the boat rolls on her mooring the boom gives and drops as I put my weight on it, this is because there is no tension in the topping lift & mainsheet to keep the boom amidships.

Mike

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Hi

how do you quickly scandalise the main with a fixed boom strut?

regards

charles

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Charles

I let the main haliard go and as the sail falls the leech sags and it looses most of its drive, let it go more and it falls into the lazyjacks and stows itself. (all from the cockpit)

Plan and prepare in advance. For safety sake I always use the engine when anchoring, berthing, enter harbour, and mooring. I stow sails early as you never know who you are going to meet, their experience and how they will react when you are in close quarters.

Mike

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Beeline has a Selden gas-powered strut which is very fierce. Once when a reefing line came undone at one end I let off the kicking strap in a panic. The shearing force pushed the boom outward and upward ripping all the rivets out of the gooseneck fitting on the boom and the whole thing came apart. Since then I have treated it with great respect. It holds the boom up well when slack, and when compressed gives a nice flat mainsail. Last season we raced in a force seven and when I gybed [:0] the plate holding the strut onto the bottom of the mast ripped off. Rivets again! Maybe I'm not selling it very well but it is never the strut that fails just the rivets holding it in place. This has been a tricky repair to the mast base. The real problem is me - but the boat is great to race when it's blowing old boots! Kate

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Thanks for the replies.

Not sure I like the idea of rivets ripping off. [:0]

I think I will stick to to the rope kicker and topping lift for the moment. I looked at the Z Spar rigid vang at the Boat Show and thought it looked a bit light weight. The Z Spar rep assured me it was ok but I wasn't convinced.

Thanks again.

John Williams

275/60 CRYSTAL

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