The Boom Brake - Don't Leave Home without One

by Cruising Editor on 17 Sep 2006 With a full complement of crew, gybing should be easy if everyone does what they should, even in a strong wind. However, it is not so easy for the typical short-handed cruising crew.

In a strong wind, when running, it’s a long process to winch the main in so that the gybe can be as controlled as possible. This is fine when there is plenty of time, but if you need, for safety’s sake, to make a quick gybe, then the BOOM BRAKE is the sensible solution.

In addition, when down-wind sailing, the person on the helm must remain attentive to the boat’s pendulum motion or to slight changes in wind direction, and remain constantly vigilant against accidental gybes. The consequences of a flying gybe can be many – snapped booms, cracked skulls, torn sails, even downed masts.

Having a boom brake in position, all of this worry is removed. In many cases, the boom brake will actually prevent the sail from coming across at all, requiring it to be let off slightly, to allow the main to swing across. Even if the power of the gybe is so great that the boat actually gybes itself, it will be a controlled, if noisy gybe, and no damage will be done.

We have had a boom brake now for many years, and it has never failed us in action. It can be controlled from the cockpit, which is also a great advantage.

However, one night while sailing along with 20 knots behind us, reefed main, two headsails working, there was a loud bang, and the feeling of a sudden springing of the boat.

After searching by torchlight all over the mast and rigging, we discovered that the 10mm stainless steel U bolt has sheared through both legs, inside the aluminium spacer block at the top of the unit.

After much investigation, it was discovered that the cause of the failure was the use of DISSIMILAR METALS. In this production unit, the STAINLESS STEEL U Bolt had been machined to provide a shoulder which rested on the ALUMINIUM separater block. The stainless steel had corroded through - as you would expect.

Having to make repairs at sea, we repaired unit by using a standard 10mm U bolt, drilling the aluminium separater slightly oversize, and using duralac to keep the metals apart. On shore, with more materials available, a cheap plastic pipe of the right size could do the job.

The advice is, then, to check that there are no dissimilar metals in the boom brake that you are thinking of purchasing. We were lucky, as the unit failed when not under pressure - another time we might have had a worse outcome.

Nevertheless, the Boom Brake is one of those short-handed cruising aids, like lazy jacks, that no short-handed boat should be without!