Save-A-Boat - The Forum for Plastic Classic Rebuilds!

How long is a Triton boom supposed to be? I used my surveyor's tape as a snake to feed a line through my boom today and I noticed that the extrusion was 13' I had a bit of a DOH! moment as I realized that this may be why I've always thought my mainsail was too long-footed.
The sail plan drawings suggest something in the neighborhood of 14'.

The answer I'm fishing for is "Nah, they're all 13 feet. You just need a new sail".
I just spent a bit more than a day doing boom-surgery to internalize my outhaul. I'd rather not ditch it.

Mine is 14 ft. 4 in. long excluding the gooseneck fitting on the end (extrusion only).

Joe

I think mine is somewhere around 14'. I can measure it for you a little later on if you like.

In addition, I have several other Triton booms on hand to measure.

Didn't they change the foot length during production? I thought the later boats were a bit shorter to reduce weather helm. My Improvement Bulletin discusses this but it is out on loan at the moment.

...

okay, I just dug out my boom from deep storage. The actual extrusion length is 154.5 inches. The outside distance from mast fitting to extrusion end is 163 inches. The inside of the black band is 3 inches from the aft end. Or ... 13 feet 4 inches of foot if measured from the mast to the black band.

-Britton

okay guys, I thought I'd made it perfectly clear that I wanted a particular answer to my question. hmph.

Different day, different Triton, different dimensions. Have you learned nothing yet?! Just shoot for whatever looks right.

Or go with 11' and I will show you my transom at the next regatta!

-Britton

well, on the bright side, my boom is already the proper length for that yawl rig I've always wanted....

What are you waiting for then?

Figment wrote:okay guys, I thought I'd made it perfectly clear that I wanted a particular answer to my question. hmph.

Obviously, we've set expectations way too high here. Time to ramp things down a bit, I guess!

You're probably better off with a somewhat shorter boom and foot anyway, given the propensity for weather helm. If you haven't noticed bad weather helm on your boat, then you probably have your shorter boom to thank for that.

A few people (notably Bill Bell) have shortened their booms to something like 12'. Of course, this drastic shortening requires relocating the mainsheet to either the bridgedeck or coachroof.

Figment wrote:well, on the bright side, my boom is already the proper length for that yawl rig I've always wanted....

Sounds like the perfect reason to make that modification this winter. Get going; it's almost spring.

Does Bill Bell report satisfaction with his mod?

Just came across this bit of info from the 1996 Improvement Bulletin. These figures are said to have come from a Pearson shop manual.

Boom lengths: Mast heights:

Mk I = 13'4" 36'8"
Mk II = 12'8" ?
Mk III = 14'3" ?
Mk IV = 14'3" 34'10"

#650 is identified as a Mk IV version but my later boat (#680) has the boom and mast dimensions of a Mk I. I am not sure if the Mk #'s are applied sequentially to the production run of if they simply refer to variations employed at random times within the production run, maybe based on customer requests or something.

Just something to stir the pot a little more.

Oh, and Bill Bell was the founder of the New England Triton Association and published the Improvement Bulletins so while I can't be sure I can imagine he was happy with the modification. Otherwise everyone would know about it :-)

Lots of good stuff in that '96 bulletin. Too bad they are so hard to find :-P

-Britton

bcooke wrote:Lots of good stuff in that '96 bulletin. Too bad they are so hard to find :-P

If anyone had one that they didn't mind me cutting up... I'd be happy to share it with everyone.

Hint hint.

Those MK numbers seem pretty meaningless, as they certainly do not represent any sort of truly sequential change; we've often seen how attempting to slot Tritons into clean slots in a production run is a futile exercise.

From the basic numbers, it looks like a MK I may correspond to a "standard" Triton fractional rig, east coast version. Those numbers match the bulk of Triton rig lengths that I have personally seen and measured.

MK II, from the boom length, looks like it may refer to a yawl-rigged version, but there's not enough information otherwise.

MK IV looks to be the dimensions of a masthead-rigged version.

Who knows.

dasein668 wrote:

bcooke wrote:Lots of good stuff in that '96 bulletin. Too bad they are so hard to find :-P

If anyone had one that they didn't mind me cutting up... I'd be happy to share it with everyone.

Hint hint.

This is actually something we should look into. I have some of the bulletins and could create a .pdf file version of them for distribution to those new and future Triton owners.

I'm not at home right now, but when I get back, I'll take a look at what I have and let you know.

Does anyone know if there would be any kind of copyright issue with doing this and if so what or who we would need to contact to get permission?

No copyright issue that I know of. I haven't seen a copyright notice on any of the IB's that I have had the chance to look at. Bill Bell, the original publisher, has been assisting NETA with getting some published on the NETA website. My comment was a little inside joke/tongue in cheek since the IB I quoted from came from Bill Bell and I am responsible for getting it back to him.

There is an IB published in .pdf format on the NTA site ('84 I believe but I can't remember) and NETA has one nearly ready to put on their website ('91). I think the NETA webmaster is holding out for a pay raise before finalizing the upload.

While we are taking this thread on a tangent, ultimately, NETA would like to publish all five of the Improvement Bulletins on their website but finding copies that can be scanned has proven difficult. Either the issue can't be found or only one issue is found and the scanning process might damage it. NETA doesn't want to damage the only remaining example.

-Britton

Britton,

I'll take a look at what I have when I get home next week. I have a scanner and if I can, without damage, I'll scan what I have and send it to you and the NETA guys.

Allen,

I had best results (read: balance between legibility and ultimate file size of the pdf) by scanning at actual size, 300 dpi greyscale, then rescaling to 150 dpi line-art TIFF format before placing for the PDF. I've already got automated actions set up for all of the post-scanning work, so if you just want to send along the 300dpi greyscale images, I can just press GO and my computer will do the rest itself.

Nathan,

Can do. I'll be back in TorC late Sunday and can take a look at what I've got then and let you know.

Tim wrote: MK IV looks to be the dimensions of a masthead-rigged version.

Who knows.

Seems to be correct there, it agrees with the boom on my masthead rig. Haven't measured the mast though.

Ken.

Just curious Ken, what is your hull # again?

-Britton

It's number 707

name is blown away II, was going to change it, but people say I follow the wind anyway so it fits.

Ken.

Wow! one of the last ones to leave the barn before they closed the doors :-)