Re-gripping a boom. The new way!!!!!!!

Boom regrip the easier way with heat shrink.
I started with a NP X9 180 to 230cm carbon boom. Grip had started to peel in spots & get "daggy". started off with new Stanley box cutter blade.
Remove everything off the boom including harness lines, adjustable outhaul cleats etc and the clips on the end of the boom arms. Starting from head of boom slice off the old grip in approx 1cm wide strips. Yes its long and tedious but unless you want to have thick boom grip its worthwhile.
Be carefull as on carbon booms there will be small areas that have not been "wetted" out properly and the blade may catch & lift bits of gel coat.
Once you have got the thickest of the boom grip off it gets easier.
Use the blade and run up & down the mostly cleaned up areas temoving the old glue & small bits of residue grip. This takes awhile depending on how clean uou want the boom.
Once you are happy with the outcome use some 800 grit sandpaper and give both boom arms a light sanding.
I used some sports strapping tape (about 3 or 4 dollars at a chemist) wrapped along the boom arm for a better grip for the heat shrink. The heat gun warms up the glue on the tape and gives a good bond for the rubber heat shrink.
I used 40mm heat shrink tubing which you need if your boom has thicker sections at the end of the arms like NP & Severne.
The tubing will slide over the arms easily. Slide it all the way to the front of the boom arms.
It comes in 1 meter lengths so you will need 3 lengths on this size boom.
Using a heat gun on medium heat (if unsure test on a smal offcut if possible) start from a distance of approx of 15cm and go SLOW. move the heat gun back & forwards until you see the grip start to shrink.
Be sure to go inside the boom arms to shrink the whole tubing.
Work your way down each arm making sure that each 15 to 20cm section is "tight" on the boom arm. Its easy to feel if it isnt.
I used black electrical tape to seal the grip at the boom head and end of the section.
Install all your bits back on and hey presto. A smick looking hard wearing boom grip.

^^^^ yep,or thinners.
Just falls off then

I'm interested in the covering - normal electrical heat shrink would be slippery when wet (?), so what is it...?

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FormulaNova said..
Isn't there a trick to immerse the boom arms in acetone using the plastic tubing that comes with a new boom? The old grip just comes away pretty easily.

Not acetone!!
Thinners

Now you guys have made me curious. When I was a kid, playing at painting a car with acrylic car paint, I thought thinners was acetone.

Anyone know?

Imax, are you sure acetone will melt a carbon boom? Once it sets, epoxy is pretty tough stuff and obviously the carbon is pretty much inert. i don't think you can 'melt' epoxy with anything, but as always am happy to learn otherwise.

Alloy doesnt matter. Acetone or thinners. But thinners on carbon.

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FormulaNova said..
Now you guys have made me curious. When I was a kid, playing at painting a car with acrylic car paint, I thought thinners was acetone.

Anyone know?

Imax, are you sure acetone will melt a carbon boom? Once it sets, epoxy is pretty tough stuff and obviously the carbon is pretty much inert. i don't think you can 'melt' epoxy with anything, but as always am happy to learn otherwise.

All i know is i recently cleaned an area of an epoxy board with acetone and the surface got sticky , thin layer of gooey even , then when the acetone evaporated it went hard again . Same thing , i cleaned a squeegee to remove tiny bits of hardened resin and it also got sticky . Then with a new rag cleaned it again and no sticky , so it wasn't the plastic squeegee melting . The resin on the squeegee was only a day old , so not cured properly but the board was over ten years old . Something was going on . I definitely think the epoxy was getting soft . I would doubt the acetone was going sticky. Maybe a wipe of acetone over epoxy is not so bad but leaving an epoxy boom fuming inside a sealed bag ??? It could be safe to do but i wouldn't do it .

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olskool said..
Alloy doesnt matter. Acetone or thinners. But thinners on carbon.

Have re gripped a few booms now, used thinners to remove the old grip, as mentioned if you seal thinners into a bag around the grip and leave it a few hours the old grip just falls off

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ka43 said..
Jswinnyc, I removed the old grip because with the new grip over the top its quite thick and bad for arm pump & fatigue.
Nothing to do with aesthetics. Its the most painful part but worth it I reckon. Plus it gives you a chance to see if there are any cracks etc on your boom.

Let us know how it works. I wonder if it's grippy enough. I suppose you could add Imax's v grip detail if you wanted to.

This looks interesting.
As the shrink tube seems to be designed for fishing rods and paddles of all sorts, it might not be slippery when wet.
How durable will it be?
I expect it to be a lot lighter than EVA or cork, but then it won't cushion the grip at all.
Let us know about your experience with it.

Thats awesome, only ever heard of the electrical heatshrink (that would suck)
Definitely will try it!!!!

As to acetone:
I have used it on properly cured epoxy - a whole bedsheet soaked in it laid over a board to soften amateur paintjob and scrape off- no probs with board laminate.
I have used it to clean off boards and 90% of the paint remains but small details dissolve- seems our asian friends always use quality 2pack for the biggest parts and smaller design is normal paint...... its a russian roulette of what is good paint and what is K-mart ... but still no epoxy laminate problems.

Yes, on very young epoxy or not quite a perfect mix, some softness over a long soak. But for booms that are autoclaved and/or post cured and then left in your hot car few days, no probs I reckon.

But If you have to buy something - just go the thinners.

I wonder if it will twist if it's not stuck down . Or water creeping in from the ends and then slipping .?

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FormulaNova said..
Now you guys have made me curious. When I was a kid, playing at painting a car with acrylic car paint, I thought thinners was acetone.

Anyone know?

Imax, are you sure acetone will melt a carbon boom? Once it sets, epoxy is pretty tough stuff and obviously the carbon is pretty much inert. i don't think you can 'melt' epoxy with anything, but as always am happy to learn otherwise.

Acetone is from the ketone family of organic solvents. Thinners is a loose term it can vary from low strength Heptane Shellite White Spirits or even Zipo fluid through to Acetone at the other vicious end of the scale. Other Thinner type fluids are Toluene, Xyzline, Petroleum, Thtrahydrafurin (Chloroform), Dichloromethane, Trichloromethane, Naphthalene, Benzene, Methylated Spirits, Methel Ethel Ketone (MEK) Turpentine etc etc. Many spirits or solvents are sold with a trade name so it can be hard to tell exactly what your getting e.g Delemoninine is the citrus cleaner or Solvol citrus. They all have a place some are better de greasers some better paint strippers some plastic chemical welding compounds some just light cleaning compounds. The common element is their "spirit quality", or ability to break down or denature another compound.

Acetone varies in strength depending on the supplier, As Mark said properly cured Epoxy (or Polyester) should be un effected by it - however any residual uncured resin could be, so how well layed up is the carbon - any voids or pockets of uncured reso - very unlikely for a boom old enough to need a regrip.

Well I tried it today and happy to report it was all good. Definitely NOT slippery, if anything a tad hard on the hands (but I haven't sailed for 3 months) But I admit it did feel better than normal boom grip. Rigged on grass and dirt with tree roots etc and no scuffing and no wear.
No slippage and felt very secure on the boom arms.
All in all Id give a 9 out of 10. Not for my workmanship which any mug can do but for its ease of use and practicality.

^^ The crisscross pattern is raised. Its pretty hard plastic once shrunk. Works ok on my blackfish rod. But id think blisters may be an issue when gripped firmly like windsurfin? Ka43??

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waricle said..
I reckon it would be great over existing grip in the major wear areas, harness line location and outside of the curved section that gets abraded. Ive just finished regripping my carbon boom and would like it to last.

Just get a section of push bike inner tube and roll it down to where the harness lines attach, wear problem solved

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choco said..

robbo1111 said..

waricle said..
I reckon it would be great over existing grip in the major wear areas, harness line location and outside of the curved section that gets abraded. Ive just finished regripping my carbon boom and would like it to last.

Just get a section of push bike inner tube and roll it down to where the harness lines attach, wear problem solved

The black rubber will leach when wet and make a mess of your sail

I've had the bike tubing on my boom for a couple of years now, no dramas at all