I would guess that no flex is the ideal. But, in the real world with a well used aluminium boom, at what point is it said to have too much flex or spring when pulled from side to side (static test)? For that matter when testing a new boom in the shop how much flex should I expect as normal?
My go-to sails are slalom 5.5 & 7.0, both cambered. Me 70kg dry.
Any advice much appreciated.
They all flex a little ,some more than others .Carbon booms are great ...but cost alot ..alloy booms have improved out of sight .
i have both ,if your boom is flexing too much it's time to replace it ..loss of power ,and feel .
Of course it's going to be more pronounced in larger sails but it's not an issue until it is an issue, overpowered the boom flexing making the sail bellow out and overpower even more. Until then who cares.
If your boom extension does not fit your boom flush then add a little tape to the front end of the extension plus some near where your biggest sail extends to.
This can reduce the flex in your boom heaps.
Downside....this makes it much harder to adjust / slide your extension to fit different sails and if you add too much tape and then force the extension into the boom,you will have big problems getting it out again!
Works real good if you use a boom for only one particular sail like I do.
It reduced the flex in my North carbon boom greatly,guessing by around a third.
Thank you all for your advice. Yes I will add the duct tape to the boom extension and see how it goes.
Might be up for a new boom, but that modification could be useful in any case just to get things really neat, especially for those very gusty days.
