Boom soft strap - my version

Voodoo 158546

Hard hiking at the end of a 3hr race, killer
Just in keeping with the rest of the rigging, dyneema - 4mm,
 

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you can also rivet it on, thats what i have on mine tackle shack in tampa put it on
 
Could've done
this is just sponge soaked in resin, poked inside the dyneema then poked through the rivet hole
 
I always wondered which of the designers Kirby or Bruce decided to stick a huge stainless eye strap in the exact spot on the boom where it would scalp oneself. I'm sure my cranium has numerous grooves in it. I realize it was the 70's but everything else on the boat is plastic. Simply replacing the stainless with a piece of 3/4" webbing is one of the best improvements to be made to an older Laser.

Neat idea with the resin soaked sponge. Since the dyneema is hollow you can do all kinds of cool stuff. I read on another site where somebody was putting bungy cord inside the dyneema on a spinnaker pole to tighten up the bridle line.

It should be fine since there is no load on it and its basically there for looks.
 
You touched on something there, regarding the 70's.....
You'd think with all those giant hair do's that fairlead would've been revised 3 generations ago !
 
Note the standard strap has the rivet at the top for good engineering reasons. Your holes will weaken the boom but probably ok until corrosion takes hold.
 
"My holes" are the factory drilled as supplied by the builder - for the stainless fairlead. Weaken the boom ? You're off your trolley.
The " good engineering reasons" are because there's already two holes on the lower face where the same fairlead as above was rivetted.
Why will corrosion set in ? The holes are sealed with epoxy, there's no dissimilar metals. Do you not read threads or look at pictures Strangler ?
 
So... I assume the final step of completing your custom boom soft strap is to paint it black, yes?

- Andy
 
Its an aluminum tube. You could
Note the standard strap has the rivet at the top for good engineering reasons. Your holes will weaken the boom but probably ok until corrosion takes hold.

Its an aluminum tube. You could drill a hundred holes in it without weakening it any meaningful way. The new boats drill a hole in the top because the strap is hanging. You could glue it on if you wanted. It will corrode at the same rate or slower than every other rivet on the spars.

They switched simply because too many people had to have stitches. Engineering played no role whatsoever. It was a dumb idea in the first place.
 
Nah Andy, nekid dyneema ( until the sun yellows it ) nicely matches the dawn grey deck, the spars match the sail, the light grey rigging blends in lovely ....
 

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