Boom location

[TJMay]

The following statement was made by catawompis in another thread.

"It may be dangerous to sail a Sun Cat with the boom above the mast hinge."

Is this a true statement?

Tommy

[rogerschwake]

  I have never heard of this before and hope it's not true. The  way my sail is cut the boom has to be just above the hinge for the boom to clear the boom gallows. The mast stub that comes out of the deck could be stronger than the section above the hinge, that's all I can think of that would make a deference. I've had a few violent jibs with the boom above the hinge with no problems so far. Does anyone else have any ideas on this?

  ROGER

[Christopher]

I agree with Rodger.  Ideally I like to be approximately 4 inches above the hinge to give me plenty of margin for clearing the gallows.  I have not had a problem yet. 

Chris

[Joseph]

I presume the statement to have been missing a "not": "It may be dangerous not to sail a..."

The floating goose neck of the SunCat is "floating" precisely to allow the boom to be hoisted past the mast hinge. If the gooseneck does not clear that hinge, the sail is likely not hoisted high enough and the boom would not be raised enough by the sail leech and may thus not clear the gallows in the stern of the boat.

J.

[Tom L.]

I raised the halyard block so that the boom would be at or slightly above the hinge. This was to keep the boom from hitting the gallows. I do this for winds less than 20mph. 
I think if it was really heavy air and I was reefed I would try to make the boom at or slightly below the hinge. The boom does ex cert forward pressure on the mast. If it was really blowing and the boat was pumping the mast hinge would be the weakest point for mast failure. But I think it's not an issue so I don't worry about a hinge failure. I haven't heard of a failure at the hinge.

Tom L.

[Catawampus]

My warning is based on a post at a North Carolina Com Pac dealer's site, where a Sun Cat owner reported a mast failure at the hinge. This may have been due to inadequate shroud and stay tension, but there was a mention of keeping the gooseneck below the hinge for safety. Up until that time I paid no attention to the gooseneck location and probably sailed with the boom above the hinge. Since then I have always tried to put enough downforce on the downhaul/cunningham to get the gooseneck below the hinge. This occurs with the boom centered at the hinge. If I don't keep adequate tension on the peak halyard, the boom will hit the crutch. It clears once I get the gaff up. Perhaps I am being over cautious. I think I will stop putting so much tension on the downhaul and allow the mast to sit higher in the future unless the winds are above 15 knots. Thanks for all of the input on this.