I will be putting Swan’s Wing on the hard shortly to deal with some issues that can’t be addressed while she is in the water. While I’m doing that I want to lower the wishbone boom to inspect it along with the rigging and fittings. The boom is carbon fiber.
I’m looking for tips on how to let the boom down in a safe, balanced and controlled way. I think I have a good methods of supporting it once it is down, but actually getting it down without damaging it or the cabin top seems more daunting. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. The boat is an NS 354, #71, and it is at the Urbanna Harbor Yacht Club in Urbanna, VA.
No tips here but I can tell you that I did not think of this as an easy job at all. My wishboom is also carbonfibre but it weighs an elephant.
If you have any direct questions, please ask!
This is how I do it, but it may not be for everybody. I place a section of ladder on the aft side of the mast footed by the front of the cabin. I climb up the ladder and secure the ladder to the mast with some webbing. I have two 5’ sections of webbing with a figure 8 on a bight tied to the ends. I girth hitch the webbing around both port and starboard sections of the wishbone. I attach the halyard to this two point sling. If alone, I climb down and use the halyard winch to raise the wishbone up enough to take tension off the hanger cables. I climb back up and detach the hanger cables and tape them to the mast so they don’t bang about in the wind. I climb back down and lower the front of the boom about three feet, then using the topping lift, I lower the aft of the boom half way. Then a bunch more using the halyard then topping lift alternating till it is down. To raise it up I just do it all in reverse order
Pat is right on the money, Barry (and Mark). This is exactly how I (and, I’ll bet, most of us do it).
BUT … what really helps is to be able to control the height of the AFT end of the boom with the adjustable topping lift. You can raise it, lower it, etc. The process is like the old “Measure twice, cut once” as opposed to “Measure once, cuss twice” - Plan each move out and go slow. I do my N22 by myself but, on an N354, perhaps another helper might be nice (just as a safety).
I have a 22 and do it a bit differently. I helped a fellow with a 30 drop his wishbone and adopted his technique to Tourmaline.
I made a “yoke” out of line and shackles - a three point arrangement. I go up the mast in a bosun’s chair with one shackle attached to either the halyard shackle or to my bosun’s chair D-rings. After disconnecting the chocker line, I attached the other two shackles to the port and starboard attachments on the boom. I’m hoisted further up the mast taking the strain off the mast-wires attached to the boom, then remove the wire-end shackles from both sides of the boom. At this point, I’m lowered to the deck and the boom drops along with me.
After 9 years of this technique, I modified my approach to using the spar tower to lower/raise the wishboom independent of my in the bosun’s chair. Just feels a bit more mentally comfortable this way. Still use the Y with shackles.
I apologize for all the undifferentiated “shackle” references in my description.
John Gialanella
Tourmaline NS-22
Bolles Harbor, Michigan
INA Discussion Group,
I take the exact steps outlined by Ernie & Pat. The previous owner of Carpe Diem did it the same way, by himself, and he was in his late 70s.
However, he dropped the boom directly onto the dog house/cabin top. After finding that very uncomfortable getting in & out of the companionway, I constructed the “saw horse” shown below. It was built to fit between the bulkhead and leading edge of the lazarette. Makes moving around the cockpit much easier. Good luck!
Eric Hakanson
Carpe Diem NS30 #484
Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
I follow these same procedures to raise and lower the boom. On my 33, the aluminum boom is heavy so I made a wooden bed which fits over the Sampson post and takes the weight at the forward end ( I was concerned that placing the boom weight on the pulpit might fracture the stainless steel welds). As you lower the boom, be mindful of the dorado box vents and the chimney. On my 33, stainless steel vents can be removed and replaced with water tight threaded plates. However, I leave them in place as I constructed a similar arrangement but mounted on the cabin top straddling the glassed companionway sliding hatch. Here, there is space on both sides between the winches and the sliding hatch to accommodate vertical 4x4’s. The 4x4 heights result in a sloped boom position above the dorado box vents.
I like your support rig better than what I was planning. Getting around in the cockpit & companion way was a concern, but this will fix that. It looks like it is still a comfortable working height.
Thanks!
That’s brilliant John. I always did the same as Pat and others with the halyard but now I will make up a yoke and attach it just forward of the hanger eyes. The problem was always because the choker is too short to release easily, and then when you do, the boom tends to go forward. The yoke will prevent the boom from going forward while it goes up and down. I will give it a try, should make the job easier.
I can’t attach the yoke shackles to the hanger eyes because the huge Mike Quill shackles are soo large they take up all the room in these eyes, however this is good because they are captive and there is no way for me to loose the shackles or pins while on the ladder.
We have done for 18 years pretty much as Pat describes. Going SLOW is key.. Fewer helpers are better, Deb and I prefer to do it alone away from helping hands and distractions.
I haven’t done it in a couple of years, but I don’t recall it being a big deal. If memory serves, I get a 6 ft ladder to reach up and tie off the halyard to the wishbone, take up the tension and then release the hanger line shackles and lower it onto a 2 X 4 placed across the pulpit. I then lower the aft end with the topping lift onto something similar aft.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Joe is right, It is straight forward, but I do encourage folks to consider a two point bridle to attach the halyard to. This prevents the boom from rotating on its long axis.
Pat Furr
NS 26C #133
Bandolero
Charlotte, VT
Attach halyard to front of boom, two point attachment is helpful to prevent twisting
Take load off hangers
Use choker to move hanger shackles into position
Remove hanger shackles
Release and remove choker line
Lower slowly on to 2x4’s spanning pulpit and aft cabin.
When raising the boom rig the halyard so you can retrieve it from the deck. I find attaching the choker then the hangers helps with the positioning. Don’t forget to mouse the shackles.
The INA is working to bring up a growing set of useful documents that we’ve gotten our hands on, soon to be found at your nearest Nonsuch.org website (;-}).
In case of interest, I’m attaching one of them, a December 1993 Newsletter article titled, “Travel Rig for Mast and Wishbone,” by Jon Ayers. It lays out two different designs for supports when placing the mast and wishbone on the deck for transport or winter storage.
Re: Bob Neches reply and idea about curating a set of useful docs, a great idea. And I’d suggest it would be great if their are model-specific modifications or projects to index those as well.
I recently purchased Nonsuch 22 #4 and have started to comb through prior posts with any eye toward questions and answers specific to the Nonsuch 22. Nothing urgent, just curious.
