The rigging inspection revealed a couple of things that need correction. One of those was the bumpers on the wishbone that protect the mast. (No idea if “bumpers” is the right name for them.) One is cracked and both are dried out and need replacement.
Looking up from the deck, they appear to be vinyl extrusions similar to those white bumper strips that you nail onto the edge of a dock. Are replacements available for these, and where?
Thanks,
Brian,
Others will chime in monetarily, but the reality is that they really are just bumpers. The are slightly thicker than they look (the wishbone can crack into the mast pretty hard), but otherwise they are just bumpers. I wouldn’t use pool noodles, but there are some innovative folks with homegrown replacements. Probably best to do when the wishbone is down and the mast is out. I was going to suggest “when your mast is down for the winter,” but somehow I don’t think that applies to you. 
Brian
SV Serenity
Nonsuch Nereus #003
Pax River, MD
Brian,
To the best of my knowledge, the bumpers not just look like, but actually are vinyl extrusions for which dock bumper strips sold at many marine stores are a suitable replacement.
Mike Quill, the former rigger for Hinterhoeller who has for many years since then provided replacement parts for Nonsuch boats (MQYR.com), may have the exact item. But Mike is in the process of retiring.
There are some aspects of the boats that sophisticated reasoning behind them, e.g., placement of tanks and other heavy components to keep the boats in balance. Some are aesthetic decisions, e.g., every boat has a flat bow edge where the two sides of the hull come together and the designer specified that the mooring posts should be the same size.
This is not such a component of the boat, IMHO. The function is to prevent the noise and abrasion of metal on metal contact between the wishbone and the mast. Anything that performs that function is good enough as a replacement. It just has to provide cushioning, not be too vulnerable itself to being worn away, offer some convenient approach for fastening it to the boom, and satisfy your aesthetic standards.
You could probably do a homegrown solution with used firehose (often available for free at a local firestation or for purchase at a place like www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com), which I’ve used to make dock bumpers. But off-the-shelf dock bumper strips are certainly the easiest way to go.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch 26U #233
Marina del Rey, California
You are correct! The only time my mast will come down will be if needed for maintenance. We retired here from rural Oregon and the lack of winter is the only reason I would ever agree to living in this seething mass of humanity.
Up in Oregon we had the Willamette and Columbia rivers for our cruising grounds. It sounds inhibiting, and it is compared to Puget Sound. But compared to San Diego the Oregon rivers are a cruiser’s paradise. Every little town and park and island along hundreds of miles of rivers has public docks and there are lots of places to go, things to see, and riverside restaurants. I thought San Diego would be awesome, but it is a real step down as far as boating goes. I sailed a lot in the 1980s, but the Oregon rivers are really powerboat territory and so I was expecting to buy a powerboat down here when we retired. But unless you fish, about the only thing to do with a powerboat in San Diego is to sit in your slip and get drunk. I drink very lightly and my wife does not drink at all. There are very few waterfront restaurants with docks and those docks are really expensive if they even allow “two hour parking”. The same is true for nearly every cruising destination I’ve found in the area, except for Catalina. Catalina is expensive, but it seems to at least be worth it.
So I am back to sailing. Sailing presents the same cruising problems as powerboating (minus the fuel costs) but at least it is active both physically and mentally. And we can afford to go out sailing and pelagic bird or whale watching as often as we wish without worrying about the costs (financial and ecological) of burning hundreds of gallons of fuel a year doing it.
Thanks for the advice on the bumpers. I’ll probably make them from dock bumpers as that appears to be what is in place right now.
Brian
No need to take down the mast to work on the boom. Place a ladder against the front of the mast, tie it off. Climb it, attach the halyard to the front of the boom. Elevate the boom to take the tension on the hangers and uncouple them from the boom, without dropping the shackles into the water like I did. Climb down the ladder, lower the boom to a level you can work on it. It is also a good time to inspect the hangers, shackles, and the connection to the boom. In the East they do this yearly but on the West coast we often neglect to have the standing rigging inspected regularly.
Hope this helps.
Ray Dykstra
Timaru Nui, Nonsuch 324
Brentwood Bay BC