Fitting Out | Boom

There were not many fittings to install on the boom, but drilling for the gooseneck pin required some care.

The boom simply slides onto a sturdy pin on the gooseneck, and is apparently held in place by the mainsail outhaul.

So we need to drill a 12mm hole into the end of the boom, at its exact centre.

I marked up the the boom, like this.

It was at this point that I realised a piece was missing from my gooseneck.

The drawings on sheet 1 of the plans show the tack of the mainsail held in place by a pin through a bracket on the top of the gooseneck. This is the drawing.

My gooseneck does not have such a bracket.

Here it is, next to the photo in the manual also showing the bracket securing the tack.

The gaff gooseneck has such a bracket to secure the mainsail throat. You can see it here.

I duly informed the kit supplier and I will wait to see what they say. I don't need a new gooseneck - just the missing bracket.

Anyway, we can still install the gooseneck.

Once again I used the drill guide to drill a nice perpendicular hole in the boom end, fixing it to a bench to keep it rigid while I drilled. Here it is.

That worked well. Here is the gooseneck, slid into place.

Lastly I had the mainsail outhaul cheekblock and eyestrap to fit.

I marked up for both at the same time. This is for the cheekblock.

And here are both fittings in place, after final fitting with sealant.

The manual states that the outhaul is secured to a cleat near the gooseneck, but no such cleat is provided and there is no picture of it in use so I will worry about that when rigging the boat.

Which will hopefully be soon ...