Over the last month or so i've been sailing the hydrodynamix skinny boom. See the post "crash test dummies". I'm not getting any free booms out of this, this post is my honest opinion.
I've sailed this in secret harbour, dutch inn and at geeries with a pretty good variety of waves giving me the chance to throw everything i've got at it. Over this time its stood up really well to me learning to one hand forward, some which went well, and others which didn't leading to some big wipeouts with lots of pressure on the boom. I also spent a lot of time getting drilled in the punchy secret harbour shorebreak, because my friends like to send me out in 10 knot conditions just to "see if it's windy enough yet".
I use a skinny mast with a boom shim and set up like this the boom provides a very solid connection to the mast. It has never slipped down the mast. I imagine it would work well set up on a normal mast as well.
The boom has a good outline, and is stiff for aluminium. I can feel that my carbon booms are slightly stiffer while comparing on the beach, but i couldn't notice it on the water and at times i was very overpowered with those huge winter squalls!
One of the major things that i'd like to see changed in this boom is the sizing. Currently its 145-180 cm, and i feel this is too small for WA conditions. Apparently this issue may be addressed for next season.
Also, i didn't like the back end. I found it a bit of a hassle when rigging, but didn't have any worries on the water.
I can see 2 possible weak points on the boom. I think aluminium through the head would be a big improvement, and i'm also a little bit worried about the changing diameter along the boom arm.
But for the price of $250, this seems like a great value boom. The construction seems to be high quality (Paul Kelf, the owner of hydrodynamix has some pretty convincing arguments regarding construction) and it has worked very well for me.
Also a big plus is that the factory is located just south of freo so spare parts should be easy to get and fairly cheap.
Dave,
Thanks for the honest review.
In response I would like to clarify a couple of points.
Firstly you didn't say anything about trying one handed forwards when we gave you the boom!
Just joking and happy the boom is holding up, this is the type of use we expect for this model boom.
As for weak points the change in diameter should not be a problem as there is 75mm of overlap where the tubes are joined and expanded, in fact I was going to reduce it to about 35mm as it is an overkill.
That particular style of Front Fitting does not have aluminium through it and is moulded from a composite material that has been specifically formulated for the added strength and stiffness required.
Dave, I believe your dislike of the backend was only the rope cleat and that is probably only a personal preference and very minor in the big picture, however these are the things we always need to consider as we need to keep the customer happy with our products.
Baring in mind that you are using the cheaper version Skinny Wave Boom we are extremely happy with the results, we will arrange an RD Wave for you to try next.
Thanks again Dave and keep us informed.
Paul
