• From: Montreal
  • Registered: 2005-04-22
  • Posts: 259

Topic: Boom Gallows

Good day all!

Here is a idea that came to me recently and I was hoping that someone who still has their boat in the water might be able to consider it in situ.  My boat is under tarps waiting for snow.  Global warming seems to have made for a green Christmas in Montreal this year.

I have been considering what to do with the main sheet for some time.  I am also attracted to the idea of a boom gallows. 

If I were to mount a gallows using the forward bases of the pushpit, would this be an appropriate placement fore and aft for the boom?  I think so based on the drawings that I have at hand.

Now I need someone aboard their boat.  I cannot recall how far aft we sit and stand when in the cockpit.  My question is how often would I smack my head on the thing?

Assuming that the ergonomics work then a mainsheet solution would be to attach a traveller to the gallows and elevate the entire sheeting setup for the main.  Very tidy if it all works!

The other benefit would be a sturdy frame for supporting awnings etc.

Thoughts or comments?

  • From: New Hampshire, USA
  • Registered: 2005-11-01
  • Posts: 84

Re: Boom Gallows

Interesting idea, but I'd be really leery of mounting the sheet on the gallows.  The leverage up that high would put huge loads on the gallows bases.  An accidental gybe could rip the gallows right off.  I'd run a traveler on the aft deck between the gallows uprights instead.  The other advantage of keeping the sheet down low is you can use the mainsheet to lock the boom down in the gallows when motoring, when tying in a reef, etc.  With the sheet mounted up high on the gallows the boom would be too close to do this - the sheet would be two-blocked before the boom was down...

  • Registered: 2006-09-20
  • Posts: 175

Re: Boom Gallows

I tend to helm from the back of the cockpit braced into the corner. Depending on conditions I am frequently found perched on the corner of the coaming.  Our traveller is pretty old and is just a tube accross over the tiller welded between two stancheons with a shackle running on it. The end of the boom comes an inch or two forward of the  traveller.  This is on an early J. Rogers boat.

To take the sheet loadings high up, you'd need something like a double arch of 2" tube, with diagonal struts cross bracing it and spread legs down to the side decks near the winches and to the aft corners.  OK on a lightly built french 'marina queen' but f***ing b***ugly on a Contessa 26.    The other issues are the extra weight aft and the windage, which are NOT going to do the handling in a seaway any favours.  Substantial backing pads would also need to be glassed in to spead the load.

I think that I'd be bashing my head on it *far* to often and
it would make access aft when stern to more awkward than it allready is.

Our boom is quite happy hanging on the topping lift without  a crutch or gallows and its easy to secure it centred by tying it off to the backstays to stop it swinging if we have to.