First post and update for this year!
We just switched from Selden Rod Kicker to Barton Marine Boomstrut.
Why?
I am quite familiar with rod kickers, had them on several boats and therefore mounted one on Veloce right away. However…
- it comes with a built-in wire 2:1 pulley. Since the companionway on the J/80s is so far forward, the rod kicker and its kicker pulley hover exactly above the companionway. No matter how I tape it, it has a tendency to bite the spinnaker when launching or dousing
- the correct section size is too short to allow the main to twist off as much as I desire
- during a broach last year, with the boom end in the water, the rod kicker telescopic inner section of the rod was ripped out of the outer section. Since there is no safety mechanism to give way in such case, it was permanently damaged
So, what to do now? Do I really need a rod kicker?
For a while I thought to simply dump it. But in the end I concluded that yes, I need one. Or some other solution. Dousing or reefing the main, solo or double-handed, without support for the boom complicates things considerably. Additionally, it really helps twisting off the top in light air.
Dissatisfied with the kicker, I reached out to Barton Marine in the UK, which supplies what they call “boom struts”. It comes in several lengths to match boat length and displacement, consists of 2 fibre glass rods and aluminium attachments and has pretty much the same function as rod kickers. Barton informed me that there is a specific model pre-cut for J/80s.
Lucky me!
What are the advantages?
- It does not have any mechanical part needing maintenance or replacement
- There are no moving parts that can break
- The boom attachment is designed with a safety feature that allows the strut to simply “slide out” if the boom is overstretched (like in the case of a broach above)
- It is significantly lighter than a rod
- There is nothing where the spinnaker can ripped
- Lesser windage
And disadvantages?
I haven’t really found one yet.
Looking forward to testing it a bit more on the water