How
to Prevent Santana 22 Boom Losses
by Steve
Seal
(originally published in Soda Waters, May, 1995)
Secondly only to mast losses on Santana 22s are boom losses.
In the twenty-plus years that I have been building masts and booms
and rigging Santana 22s, I have built many new Santana booms
and strengthened or reinforced many more.
The key here is boom reinforcement. All the new booms I build are
reinforced. This is an absolute must because the stock boom section
that W. D. Schock Co. used when they built the boats is marginal
at best.
Another thing that ends up weakening the boom is the vang strap.
Most Santana booms were rigged with an external stainless steel
boom vang strap. This external strap encourages salt water corrosion
between the stainless strap and the aluminum boom. What happens
is that over time the boom is severely weakened by corrosion underneath
the vang strap, in the exact area where it is subjected to the highest
loads by the boom vang.
So, what is the answer to keeping your boom from breaking?
1. If your boom has an external stainless steel boom vang
strap, remove it and replace it with an internal pad eye type of
vang attachment.
2. Reinforce the boom with 4 feet of internal aluminum tubing,
tied into the internal vang pad eye. This fix adds only about 1
1/2 lbs. to the weight of the boom while adding considerable strength
in the area where the boom is most highly stressed. It is relatively
inexpensive to do. The cost of the parts is under $40. It can be
done by anyone who is good with hand tools and has a rivet gun capable
of riveting larger stainless steel rivets. Or I can do it in approximately
1 1/2 hours time. Give me a call if you have and questions.
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View
of internal boom vang pad eye. The length of reinforcement
aluminum tubing is visible inside the slot. Heavy-duty stainless
steel rivets hold everything in place. |
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