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Can anyone who has replaced a sliding gooseneck fitting with a fixed mount tell me how they arrived at the correct placement of the new fitting on the mast? I am switching to a fixed gooseneck boom fitting an want to make sure I am accurate with the placement so I can adjust the sail correctly. Thanks.

Ryan

It's going to be a little different on each individual boat.

The surefire way to determine a correct height would be to raise the mainsail, sans boom, to its full height, and then determine where the tack falls when you stretch the luff downward. You want the clevis (or other fitting on your new gooseneck that fits into the mainsail tack fitting) to be just low enough to allow the mainsail luff to be stretched tightly. It's better to err slightly on the low side--say an inch or so--to ensure that you don't ever run out of adjustment room.

Most of your luff fine-tuning will now occur with a cunningham, which works even if the boom ends up too high, but it's best to allow a bit of extra room anyway.

what makes a fixed gooseneck bertter than a slider? strength?

Ken.

In my case, I fixed the gooseneck because I installed a rigid boom vang, which wouldn't work with a sliding gooseneck.

I also prefer that the boom stay at a consistent height regardless of the position of the sail, but that's a secondary reason.

And I think the strength is ultimately higher with a solid fixed fitting as well, which is one reason the sliders tend to be relegated to dinghies and smaller boats.

I agree with Tim on the strength issue, and from a practicality standpoint, it seems to be MUCH easier to find replacements for a fixed gooseneck.

Ryan

Was thinking of changing the boom on my Triton, as it has the old spinning boom furler, and haven't made up my mind if it should be moved up on the plans, or use it for a while.

The only advantage I could think of was for strength, but could think of a couple possible disadvantages (more experience on small boats colors my thinking with boats!)

I'd never thought of the rigid vang, Thanks Guys, learned a lot from you all even before I got the triton

Ken.