E27 Gosseneck hieght

[ragamuffin]

Hello E27 sailors and other Ericson owners, I have a problem with my Gosseneck it will not stay up high enough? Keeps sliding down about 3-5"? Any Ideas? I can not reef becasue of this and wonder if I am aslo missing out on performance. I have looked at other E27's in my marina and their gooseneck is at about where the mast winch is. Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[NateHanson]

Does the boom gooseneck on your rig slide up and down in the mainsail track? Some are designed to do this. You raise the sail to the top of it's hoist, which pulls the boom up a bit, then depending on conditions, you adjust luff tension with a boom downhaul, or cunningham. Same with reefing - you hook the reef tack cringle on the boom reefing hook, raise the halyard so the boom is where you want it, and then tighten the downhaul/cunningham. My Columbia is rigged this way, and there's a black line around the mast to help point out where the boom should end up.

I don't know why the boat was rigged this way, and I haven't seen it on newer rigs, but it doesn't have any real problems.

Nate

 

[Rob Hessenius]

Track Stop

Get yourself a Track Stop and insert into the slot and tighten. This will prevent the boom/gooseneck from dropping. I'm sure you can get them at your local WM. Good Sailing, Rob Hessenius

 

[bigtyme805]

On my old E-27 you had to tighten the sail track stopper, yours probably broke or came loose and you never knew it. West Marine sells them or any chandlery. I always kept a spare one aboard. I had two on the mast one preventing the main sail from coming out and the other for keeping the boom up. Also use the cunningham, that will help.

 

[Bob Grenier]

Track Stops

This is what your looking for.

 

[ragamuffin]

bigtyme805, my last boat was a C26 MKII and it had that setup with no Jiffy reefing so I understand what you mean.

The Sail Track stop is what I thought I would need to do, I have a spare and now will buy a few more and try your advice thanks guys.

 

[Loren Beach]

Gooseneck Trivia

Hello E27 sailors and other Ericson owners, I have a problem with my Gosseneck it will not stay up high enough? Keeps sliding down about 3-5"? Any Ideas? I can not reef becasue of this and wonder if I am aslo missing out on performance. I have looked at other E27's in my marina and their gooseneck is at about where the mast winch is.

When your boat was built, it was common rigging practice to have the gooseneck on a slide on boats. That way you would tension the luff to suit wind conditions. Problem was that racers would add area to the foot of the main and keep pulling it further down, seeking "unrated" sail area.

So to promote fairness in racing, the rules had to mandate a black band on the mast to denote the lowest point for the boom/foot of the main. Black bands appeared on the end of the boom, and at the top part of the mast to denote where the head of the main should stop. That way, in theory, a competitor could see at a distance if you were cheating on your sail area.

Having done this to inhibit a small % of cheaters, everyone still needed to tension the luff of their main to control draft...
So the Cunningham line/tackle became a common addition to running rigging.

I would guess that many (most?) owners of older Ericsons -- and every other sailboat of similar vintage -- have converted to a fixed gooseneck, by at least pinning/bolting their old one in place.

As you note, reefing and furling the main are quicker/easier with the fixed gooseneck.

Loren in PDX

 

[ragamuffin]

Great info Loren! So what is the best way to determine optimal height for the boom? No black band anymore mast was painted. Should I lift it up until I can reef easier then mark it and fix it with a sail tract stop? Is there a better safer way to do this without a sail track stop?