I'm thinking of re-gripping, and revamping an older carbon wave boom, and think i might change the boom head.
Has anyone got an honest review of the streamlined boom head, and is it worth spending ?150 odd on it? Other recommendations would also be welcome. Thanks.
Just get the Chinook/Aeron head, whichever version is cheapest. They are as good as the Streamlined heads and are much cheaper.
The streamlined head is the stiffest and most direct head I've ever sailed. Difficult to adjust in the water. Completely disintegrated away from corrosion, bolt snapped during sailing but as often can be sailed back.
Its stiffness means the boom can be set lower without shortening lines compare to a softer more bending head.
The orange stuff doesn't seem to like humidity. Transformed to powder within months.
I'm sailing the aeron head, it's way soft, the Chinook slips (see my inner tube video tip but still). It can be viewed as jump landing shock absorbing but to me a still head beats any dampening. You can feel the mast working a lot more than regular head.
It is a bit scary to sail without a bra with its sharp and hard edges through, keep away from face!
Obviously hard to rebuilt (bolts corrosion + design).
The big old neilpryde head was the second stiffest. Man do I miss a stiff head :) !
I like the Severne boom heads, their dedicated RDM-head has a very good fit and there's no fiddling with adapters.
Select to expand quotejontyh said..
Chinook it is, just ordered, and so saved $$$ Thanks.
...fyi... the Chinook does not slip if you tighten it enough....(yeah, like hard to shut - really tight...)
I had a boom head that slipped because the rubber surface that contacted the mast was too hard. Contact cemented (Weldwood brand) on some truck tire inner tube rubber on all three inside faces of the boom clamp, never slipped again, and that was 5 years ago and contact cemented rubber is still good.
I have a boom head which has a lot of slack where the head connects to the boom. Was going to put some electrical tape on it and then retighten. But checked with a local shop, for about 8 Ozzie dollars I got this piece of shrink wrap from them. Put it on this evening and the boom feels a lot stiffer. Just thought I would add it here incase your project has a similar issue.Best of luck.
Select to expand quotejontyh said..
I'm thinking of re-gripping, and revamping an older carbon wave boom, and think i might change the boom head.
Has anyone got an honest review of the streamlined boom head, and is it worth spending ?150 odd on it? Other recommendations would also be welcome. Thanks.
Okay, streamlined boom head is the ultimate boom to mast connection. It makes your mast and boom feel like one thing. All the above posts don't exist with the Streamlined front end. However...the original version with the webbing straps was a pain in the arse to adjust for varying mast diameters but when set, amazing. The later version with the dymema rope was an improvement in that regard, but less tidy. As regards to corrosion. Well I have had years and years of reliable service from my streamlined boom. Just a quick rinse off in fresh water after each use ( same as the alloy extension from streamlined that everyone slags off). What fails are the rubber components but spares are( were) available.
But after 6 years of hard use of my thrashed but looked after ( rinsed ) streamlined boom, the rubber parts were failing so I decided to upgrade to the second version with the dynema ropes but none were available. So I looked at alternatives and the only boom head to fit the streamlined boom was the Mauisails boom head.
So, to jontyh.....$150 is well spent as long as it is compatible with the boom you have. If an aeron, Chinook, or serverne fits your boom then a streamlined won't.
As it happened, I couldn't get the Mauisails front end but eventually got the mark 2 streamlined and am very happy.
It's unfortunate that this product is no longer available in Australia to my knowledge.
