New Chinook Extension clip dinging boards

"I'm not allowed to post a picture."

Why?

Is this the one?

I use the same style extension but haven't had that happen to me. Maybe I always have it facing the pulleys or it's the padding on my sails. You could always try to source an old style clip if you think that fixes the problem.

Doubt you will forget next time... just ask Chinook sure they will give you one of the old style...

Constant change making things worse than better. The old ring and pin design was reliable and strong... we are on a merry go round.

The pin on my one of those falls out if i tilt it sideways walking down the beach.
This is bad because the eyes are getting worse. I try to avoid wearing reading glasses rigging and cant see the numbers to put back in.

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MobZ said..
The pin on my one of those falls out if i tilt it sideways walking down the beach.
This is bad because the eyes are getting worse. I try to avoid wearing reading glasses rigging and cant see the numbers to put back in.

Second that.

I bought a Chinook one per pic above to replace a lost clip on an old Alu Simmer extension. I am not a fan of collar and pin type adjusters, as they seem to fall off, or the string pulls through or breaks.

It seems Chinook tried with this version to make one that didn't fall out; but the implementation is horrid, it is too big (although you can orient it with the pin inside if the extension holes are aligned that way) and due to heat or wear or whatever the plastic "clip" no longer keeps the pin in place after a while. I heated mine up gently and squished it to try to make it "clip" again, it works but I don't really trust it.

Like Mark Oz I am a fan of the Severne style clips (which are not exclusive to Severne but more on that below), not just because they can be adjusted one-handed and don't stick out much and damage the board, but because they stay on the extension when you derig and pull the extension out of the mast; provided they don't snag on the luff at the mast / protector and rip a hole in it or the rope netting pouch (never happened to us but I read about it here somewhere).

For foiling when waves are small, we quite often derig in the water and the pin and string and collartype (admittedly strong) often seemed to fall off the extension when the collar gets pulled up by the sail (when releasing downhaul), and depending on the sail orientation the bloody pin then sometimes drops out and you lose the thing. Or the string breaks or the knot pulls through either the pin or the collar.

If I was designing a pin/collar version I'd think of some way of a spring loaded locking mechanism under the collar, where you put the collar over the pin, it goes into a slot and you'd give it half a turn and it locks the pin in place. Not a plastic ridge, that would just wear too fast.

I liked the Severne style collars so much I changed my other extensions to that style (I recently bought a Severne extension). I say style as I discovered that the Severne pins, which also fit my Goya and Simmer extensions, are bigger than the pins on some other brands. As such it does not fit my Streamlined extension (which I dislike anyway), as it has smaller holes. I bought a generic one (maybe Unifiber) that has smaller pins. I know Simmer, Unifiber, Gunsails and Patrik all have models that use the one-handed collar type, not sure about the size.

I dislike the Streamlined for several reasons (1) mea culpa but the footprint of the bottom end is too small for my sensitive Neanderthal feet and swings away from me; the big clumpy plastic foot of my other extensions is not only much kinder to my feet but more robust (2) mea culpa again, didn't look close enough but as you cannot remove the collar like my other extensions for a zero setting, it stops at a minimum 6cm setting (3) The spring on the push button is really stiff, and with a small button hard to push especially with cold fingers. I dissembled it to try to weaken the spring slightly but no help; PITA to reassemble (4) The push button is proud of the surface, so they added a plastic shim under it which swivels back into place; I can see that destroying itself eventually and again . cold fingers (5) The final rope run into the cleat goes at a bit of a diagonal (yes I'm threading it correctly), but both engineering-wise and aesthetically it gets my goat. So all in all not an inspired purchase, and an expensive one. I somehow justified it to the wife that she can use it exclusively because it's light and streamlined. I'm not sure she believes me.

As regards the Severne style adjuster clips, the only downside is some variations have a cheap hinge (not mine but beware) that have a bit of metal that sticks out and can catch the luff sleeve; and the rubber "spring" wears out and breaks (and can get pulled off) - but bicycle tube works at a pinch and one bike tube will last a lifetime.

The worst extension I had (I sold it) was the Duotone one which has a plastic catch that you separate so you can rotate it and then clip it back together. Too fiddly for my liking, didn't look too robust either. It was worse than those ones that use a wire made of spring steel that sits in an aluminium groove and have an internally tapered collar that jams it in place. Solid system except even easier to lose the collar and moving the wire is not quite as easy as the Severne system.

Then there's the orientation of the cleat, Simmer, Goya and Streamlined all right-hand ones (mast to the right looking from the foot to top when rigging; Severne is left-handed (and if you buy their sails with cams (I only have one, for foiling) the mast needs to be on the left so the cam zip pockets are accessible. Why didn't I buy all the same handedness you may ask? Well, I got them at different times as the family expanded.

As you can tell I love mast extensions, beautiful little bundles of engineering; don't get me started on booms with issues with cracking clips (Mauisails), heads and grip, nor bases, whole other subject.

k.

(apologies for hijacking OPs thread a wee bit).

After years of using chinook I ended up going brand specific to suit my sails. Simmer for simmer sails and severne for severne sails. Makes rigging easier knowing the numbers suit the sails. Both have clam rings. Gotta love clam rings!,

I do carry spare rubber for my clams. Just in case I break it

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jn1 said..
I highly recommend them.

Looking at the pics they seem a little loose in the holes, are these the Severne Clams (bigger pins) or others (smaller pins)?

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Mark _australia said..
Agreed
Big fan of the severne split ring thing, very simple and one handed adjust, with none of that protrusion.

There was a change to the Severne one, the older ones the hinge part was longer and always caught on the sail when lettering the down haul off, I've ripped 2 luff sleeves that way

Yeah I hate that Severne "feature". Release downhaul after rolling up the luff foot and there's still full downhaul tension because it's caught on that clip.

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jn1 said..
I highly recommend them. Don't have to subtract 2cm from the downhaul setting on the sail (as the Chinook collars are so thick !).

www.surfsailaustralia.com.au/product/patrik-mast-extension-adjustable-collar-sdm#surf-sail-clothing-hardware


Nb/ I first saw these clips when I was a beginner and brought my 1st RDM extension in early 2009. This was an Aeron RDM extension and I thought that all RDM extensions were like that. I reluctantly sold this extension when I sold a sail and mast to a friend, who demanded I "chuck in" this Aeron extension. I should've said no

Hey jn1,

What brand clam collar do you use on your Chinook extensions?

So on the left of the two clams is the Unifiber or a.n.other brand, on the right is the Severne one. Hopefully you can see the Severne pins are bigger.

I show 3 of 4 of my extensions that fit the Severne clamshell Severne (tada!), Simmer and Goya.

The Streamlined fits the small-pinned clamshell best (or I should say the clamshell fits the Streamlined best); the extension I am not a huge fan of, for the reasons above. Stock pic below for illustration purposes only, that extension wearing a non-Severne clamshell is not shown.

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SurferKris said..
and rigging is also done on the "proper" (port) tack. :)

Don't...... cause a war !

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GazMan said..

ryan14 said..
My board got dinged near the mast track for the first time when losing the board in whitewater. This is with a newer Chinook Extension. The new height adjustment clip extends out much more then before and is hammering into the board. Chinook advised me to have that facing the pulleys. I think it is better to ask them for an old style clip. I'm not allowed to post a picture. Just wanted to warn others about this before they ruin their boards.

Curious to know Ryan what sails you're using as all of my sails (KA & Ezzy) have an integrated mast base pad at the bottom of the l

My sails probably have less padding than the Ezzy sails, I don't want to mention the brand negatively here since I've never had an issue with any other style of clip regardless of sail padding. The new chinook clip protusion acts as a point load onto the board deck so would probably cause damage through most built in pads. I've swapped out my clip for the old style and have added some EVA foam around the bottom of my extension and mast that fits under the sail luff sleeve. I'll only use that when wind is light and waves are dumping, when I'm likely to get washed a lot.