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Sunday 4 April 2010

DIY - Booms - Shortening an X9 Boom!

I bought an X9 260 boom CHEAP(bargain of the century) as we do not have any formula sailors in my area.  My biggest sail is a 9.5 RSS MkIII with a boom length of 238/240 so I wanted to cut down the 260 to suit. The next "standard" x9 down is the 225 but this would mean 15cm of extension - I wanted it as stiff as possible with minimum extension but with a little flexibility for fine adjustment. I have a 180 and 200 X9 also and checked the lengths of the large diameter end of the boom(that sleeves the tail) and found the 180 & 200 are from the same tooling and the 225 & 260 are from the same tooling( as far as the start of the larger dimater goes). Or to put it another way the 200 has about 80cm of tail tube( and can be cut down to the 180) and the 260 has 100cm (and can be cut down to 225). I decided that a 230 would be best and everything went well.  I would not recommend doing it if resale value is a high priority(as it is no longer standard) but if you want a customised boom to suit your particular quiver of sails that you will keep forever then it is a good option.  Measure twice and cut once! 

I will add some words to the slides when I get the chance...





















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