I have just bought a used carbon boom. I need to install adjustable harness lines. Never had them before . Can adjustable harness lines be easily installed on all booms without taking them apart ? I'd rather avoid this if I can, because I am afraid of damaging the boom if I am to force by sliding it off . as it is sometimes necessary in oldish boom.
Thanks
Francone
Depends on which harness lines you've bought. More and more of them are removable without removing the boom end, but not all. Which ones have you bought?
Pull it apart cos if it doesn't then something is wrong. Better to find out it's jammed up with crap in your garage than down the beach on the day of the year.? if it slides all the way it doesn't take much extra force to pop the seals past the end
Select to expand quoteSubsonic said..
Depends on which harness lines you've bought. More and more of them are removable without removing the boom end, but not all. Which ones have you bought?
Thanks
I haven't bought any as yet. I am looking at the adjustable ones listed by Amazon ( Canada).). I'll buy any adjustable lines that don't require removing the front end of the boom.
If this secondhand boom is so old or bad that you are scared to slide the tubes all the way out for fear of breaking something - I'd not be using it on the water!!
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
If this secondhand boom is so old or bad that you are scared to slide the tubes all the way out for fear of breaking something - I'd not be using it on the water!!
Agreed. Carbon booms can put up with a lot and if popping the ends out shows a problem, then you would have seen it on the water straight away. Its a good chance to rinse it out with fresh water too.
I have had the carbon tailpiece snap like a twig, but only after the front end clamp section gave way first, so you couldn't really blame it.
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
If this secondhand boom is so old or bad that you are scared to slide the tubes all the way out for fear of breaking something - I'd not be using it on the water!!
I am not scared to take it apart just because I allegedly think it is old. junk. If so I wouldn't have bought it .In fact it looks in pretty good shape. There is hardly a scratch and the grip area is intact. It might be about 5 years old or so. Is it really old? I just wanted to have a sense if it is standard no-risk procedure to pull out the front end.
It depends on what it means for a boom to be old. Certainly in this day and age, technology advances so fast that it is in some way ridiculous that sellers lull us into nirvana by having us ( or trying to !) buy their new gadgetry and discard the "old" "nirvana" gadgetry which was perfectly OK last year.Bottom line, is it safe to remove the front end as a standard procedure?
Thanks
Francone
What Grant said: you remove the boom tail/back, not the front/boom head to install harness lines.
Yes it's safe. I've don't it hundreds of time with my carbon boom when I still rinsed it after each session. Gave up on the rinsing and boom is still going strong after many years and many removals of the tail end.
Select to expand quoteGrantmac said..
You remove the BACK end and yes it's a standard thing to do.
If it was a modern continuous front end boom (not, say, an old Chinook which I still have a couple), he'd have figured that one out pretty quickly. 
Nautix and Patrick are good adjustable lines with camcleats. They don't need you to take the boom apart.
Patrick are expensive and need a degree to figure out how they wind on but are worth it..
I couldn't find Nautix last time I looked?
