Choosing a decent boom - what do you rate

My sympathies russh, it will be at least a couple of weeks before you can roll over in bed without waking up in serious pain

Ouch (rolling over in bed, laughing, hicoughing... so many ways to find how bad your ribs are)


Back on topic
I have a Hydrodynamix ally boom. Front finally broke (it had done >3000kms), Paul at Hydrodynamix fitted a new front end for me for a very reasonable price. Result: one happy Evets.

If you go for ally I recommend Hydronamix. The fact they are sourced by an australian who gives great customer service meant I made the right choice.

ok now let's talk about the differrence between Np X3 and X6, lets say180-230cm
both the same diameter, however the X6 is 100g heavier. Personally I just don't see the point of the hybrid assembly. If you want stiffness go for all carbon. From an engineering point of view I really can't see that the tail piece in carbon is going to offer much, if any more stiffness, I think it's just a nice piece of marketing. To get picky one really needs to mount both booms to a bench and load test them, or can anyone verify the difference in feel?

I've not used the pryde's but can comment on the prolimit hybrid vs standard. The hybrid is an improvement but I feel this is mainly noted by heavier sailors who notice less draft movement in gusts, so unless you sail quite powered up you wont notice a great deal between the two. Personally I have quite a few booms, but generally if I go over the half way point on the extension I will use a carbon back end. Looking at my carbon, hybrid and alu booms when sailing it isn't so much the back end that bends rather the rear of the front section, the carbon backend reinforces that area better. But yes beefing up one part such as using stiff carbon extension tubes moves the weak spot to either the aluminium arms or the bend in the carbon back end.

For the prolimits the carbon backends also have the pulley system set up for adjustable outhaul whereas the standard aren't suitable.

I don't know about those booms from Italy, there are a few design features which point towards a stiffer boom, most of these can be seen on the Mauisails carbons:
Backend- as said above alot of flex occurs at the bend point, this is reduced by widening the curve or going to a reinforced non-curved section such as the mauis.
Main section tubes- stiffened by thicker tubes, larger diameter tubes or elongated tubes.
Front end- monocoque, wider more progressive curve.
The italian booms feature a few of these and do look good, but I don't know whether they would be more durable than other booms. Dunky doesn't sail formula and that is where I would be looking to see which booms last.

McAfee just found trojans in temp internet files from that link..... hmmmm

Have looked at the booms (on the site) before (without any virus warnings!) and they look good. I like the idea of an oval shaped tube because one could expect smaller feeling grip for the same stiffness in the plane the boom typically distorts.

Got my AL360 E3 190-245 full carbon slalom boom yesterday. Due to the length the weight is on the heavier side but comparable to that of a X9 200-250.

I'll take some pics at the weekend.

Just picked up my new prolimit assault boom (full alloy but im making it a hybrid), thought it was identical to last years as the graphics are unchanged but on unwrapping it there have been a few changes.

Backend is now slightly wider curve and the roller fitting has been added to the alloy backend, whilst never a problem with wavesails it is welcome for racesails and adjustable outhaul systems.

Frontend has changed again- last year they improved it significantly by beefing up the wrap around bit and added a clip-on attachment for rdms. I always found that it slipped on rdm masts and promptly threw it in the pile of junk. This year they have extended the section that sits on front of mast and the rdm attachment is about 1cm smaller diameter than previous year so it should work well.

Just bought an Monocoque Aluminium Aeron recently and I have to say great boom. Very versatile too - you can gybe it either palm down or palm up

I reckon Dunkerbeck going over the bars and 40+ knots while hooked in would be a bit more of a test for booms than formula sailing.
I'd also put money on him using another brand of boom pretty soon!

does anyone in nsw stock these aeron booms??

Dunky doesn't have the aforementioned boom branded anywhere, so I'm not sure they are paying him. I think the only thing going through your mind when going over the bars at that speed is self protection, not the longevity of your boom.

HAS ANYONE GOT ANYTHIGN TO SAY ABOUT THE HYPERSONIC CARBON BOOMS? 162-222 ?

I'm not sure what you're reading. It looks like I said I "DIDN'T" think I'd go back to alloy!

I'll try and talk a bit slower for you swoosh. I think it's called 'queenslandish'!

Carbon booms, particularly the MauiSails one I have been using are awesome, no question.
The Severne alloy one I have been using for the past few weeks is exceptionally stiff for an alloy boom and a very comfortable shape... I love it. In fact I love it so much I'm questioning the benefit of getting another carbon boom. I guess the 2 things that would sway me is the smaller diameter of a carbon boom and the longevity of a carbon boom.
If you're questioning me selling a carbon in the first place, it is because I was changing brands from MauiSails to Severne.

I have just purchased and used an Aeron alloy - feels nice and stiff, love the profile - only time will tell if goes the distance - but it does give me confidence.

It has a clamp insert, so as to fit skinny masts, great feature. I would prefer to use the ezzy shim ,but I have a problem. Without the supplied areon insert, that is in SDM mode, I can't fit the clamp around my Ezzy RDM with c/w nolimitz shim.
Anybody else with this problem?

Still happy to use the Aeron with the supplied insert.

that's alright swoosh, I couldn't help have a dig at a queenslander after the footy on the weekend!