We are the new owners of Arenaria P325/21 formerly Mischief and are on a steep learning curve.

The Z Spars rigid vang is not supporting the boom horizontally. On inspection, the spring was too short and we have a replacement. However, now the vang is way too long.

We have checked measurements with Z Spars and it seems that our attachment on the boom is too close to the mast at 975mm. Do any other owners have a similar vang and is anyone able to confirm the measurements?

Many thanks,

Dennis and Anne

Hi Dennis and Anne, welcome to the PSSA. With a boom strut, the spring allows you to pull the boom down to it's normal position using the kicking strap and/or the main sheet, but allow the boom to lift up without needing a topping lift, to ease raising and lowering the sails. The normal amount of lift is around 6" from its normal position, measured at the end of the boom. It's not too critical as long as you can pull it down to its normal position with the kicking strap or mainsheet. I have a Barton Boomstrut on my P27 and 6" worked just fine on a 3.05M boom. adjust the distance for your shorter boom accordingly.

Martin Watson - P27 "Frith"

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sorry, that last sentence should have read ... 'shorter or longer boom accordingly'

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Parkers addressed this issue by cutting a short length off the spring.

That explains a lot, thank you. We have managed to measure a couple of other 325s and the measurements are the same as ours. You don't happen to know how long the reduced spring is, do you?

HI both

I replaced the Z spars vang on Blue Moon this year. I believe Z Spars supply them over length with the intention they are cut to fit. Luckily for my hands not my wallet I had Barry the Rigger fit it. I'd be happy to measure the spring for you when I am hauling out next week?

Peter

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Thanks Peter. That would be very useful. ZSpars is quite close to us. The manger suggested shortening the smaller piston instead of the spring as a possible solution.

Hi both

Partial success only I'm afraid. It turns out that this is a beefier unit than the one one my SuperSeal, and the spring is held captive in the upper unit by a plastic collar. You'll forgive me for not drilling out the rivets to measure the spring, but I have instead measured the length of the whole unit in its 'resting' position i.e. disconnected with no weight on it, and it is 132cm from pin centre to pin centre. The distance from the top pin when connected on the boom to the back of the mast is 100.5cm. I hope this helps.

It did however occur to me that you might want to use these measurements just as a guide: presumably a different combination of sail/battens/blocks etc will weigh differently, and require a different length of spring to get the same result? I removed mainsheet blocks that would have safely warped the Titanic off an iceberg, so I reckon my boom now weighs a lot less than it did, as well as looking less like a Thames Barge. I would recommend cutting carefully and reducing length gradually until you are happy with resting height.

Good luck!

Peter

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PS I am sure I read in the instruction leaflet that the thing to trim is the bottom unit not the spring, as your man from Z Spars has suggested

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Thanks Peter. The measurements are really helpful and we are glad you didn't drill out the rivets! We note your advice on cutting carefully. That should certainly help us set up the new spring.