I've had some nasty wipeouts with a 10-year-old carbon boom and it's still going strong.

I'm in the market for a new one because the outhaul cleat's broken off and the plastic head's got a split. I got an aluminium boom at the mo but as they say, once you go carbon there's no going back.

I think one of the big factors is the sail range you can get out of 1 boom . My Ka 162-222 Boom is good for 4.2 Wave sail through to 7.5 Koncept . At near full extension it is still stiff as . An alloy boom just can,t cope with the same range , they get too spongy and will break at max extension . Therefore 2 booms required for the given sail sizes . The economics start to change if you are a sailor who demands a big range of length from a boom . Just my 2 bobs

i have used carbon for many years for racing , waves and freestyle and have never broken one ,carbon is better for racing but find that alloys are better for waves and freestyle ,the only problem with alloy is that it breaks alot ..... what do ya do ????

stribo said...

I wonder if a boom made from aircraft grade ally would be better than carbon?
It's lighter and way stronger than normal ally.
Is it too stiff and therefore would break easier?
Has anyone had any experiance with this?

Good question. I'm in the market for a new boom and am reading this thread with interest. Do all the manufacturers state what type of alloys they use, and then which is best?

"Alloys ain't alloys"

Edit: Some googling produced some info for "6070 Marine Alloy" for example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_alloy

Any chemists online? What does it all mean in layman's terms?
A strength/weight ratio would be nice as a standard.

Like anything, carbon boom's can break... that said I have only broken one in the past five years.
The boom i broke had seen a heap of carnage and full heavy duty wash cycles in NSW, WA and Mauritius.
I landed on it, and across it... countless times wave riding and learning to push loop and back loop.
in the end I am fairly certain it only broke as a result of damage inflicted while on transit
- insert here -> dodgy baggage handlers/bag snatchers throwing my boom bag around and loading lots of heavy load bearing equipment on top of it

Couldn't tell you how many alloy booms I have snapped... more than 5 and less than 12, some of them less than 6 months old and from a range of manufacturers.
194cm and 90 kilo hanging off a boom certainly has it's disadvantages... disadvantages when it comes to alloy that is, no such problems with carbon booms !

Quite a few of the WindWarrior crew are on a range of carbon booms (and by crew I am referring to the guys we work and sail with NOT team riders or sponsored guys)
The only booms we have seen broken in the past 3 years are ALL alloy, although there were a few issues with clips wearing and back ends slipping on 2 unnamed carbon booms.

Check and replace your front end and outhaul ropes.
Check for signs of rust and/or excessive wear
Rinse off the boom every now and again and keep it out of the sun and not left in the back of a steaming hot car (to stop the grip from peeling) and you should get many years of service out of it.

The last carbon boom I had needed to be re-gripped after the grip wore through after years and years of faithful service.

Go carbon... you wont regret it

Kev

WindWarrior Australia

In the '80's I used to make my own booms out of 6000 series aluminum tubing. They were as good as most at the time and better than many. In comparison with todays booms they we very soft and bendy. Had to use 32mm diam. tube and limit extension length. Most of todays alloy booms are made with T8 tubes. I got some T8 tube (Highly tempered or heat treated to make it stiffer and I actually could not bend it to the boom shape so I gave up. It seems the best strongest and stiffest alloy booms are bent when the alloy is low temper, (T6?) and then heat treated to T8. Now, some alloy booms come in 29mm diam. and are still quite stiff in the shorter lengths, but of course 32mm in the same construction is stiffer and stronger for the same wall thickness.
For shorter booms, smaller sails I find good alloy booms perfectly adequate used in the shorter half of their extension range. For sails over about 6.6 there is no doubt carbon booms get an advantage with superior stiffness. I have been unfortunate enough to totally destroy two booms this season in speedsailing crashes with a 5m sail. I am glad I was using alloy booms for 2 reasons.
1. The boom broke and not me.
2. The cost of replacement was actually affordable.

Since it is very unlikely that I will have any 40 knots + crashes on the larger sails I would not hesitate to use good carbon booms for them.

stribo said...

Is aircraft ally the same as cromolly?

No.

Cromolly is an alloy of steel (chrome / molybdenum), whereas ally is aluminium.

We used cromolly in our formula SAE car, had to powdercoat it to stop it rusting so it wouldn't be any good for a boom...

Hmm now where were we ?? Ah thats right the durability of carbon booms C'mon I know you guys can stay on track

i had a chinook carbon boom which was made in 99 according to the serial num under the boom head when i pulled it apart to check for damage. i bought this boom second hand and it was maybe 4 yrs old then. it was reduced diameter. and has copped a beating. nearly 9 yrs later and it was still goin strong.

When i last saw it.....I think i may have left at beach or been nicked outa my ute so if anyone has it, it be great to get it back... its got white strapping tape all over it as the grip has gone to ****...