P40 Boom Gallows

[jhene...@yahoo.com]

Happy New Year,

It seems that I am being more than usually compulsive in my offseason project planning in this year of the pandemic.  I usually make it until around February before I start obsessing about upgrades, but this year the bug has set in early.

While bouncing around the Attainable Adventure Cruising website which has many, many ideas that match my own sense of good seamanship (I'm a shoes on 100% of the time on deck, for instance), I somehow got onto the https://www.59-north.com/isbjorn website, another good offshore seamanship resource, and from there landed on a video tour of Pam Wall's Freja, Kandarik (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lny6IJ-2rC8&feature=emb_rel_end).  This is a long way around to tell you how I got thinking about the benefits of a boom gallows.

Pam Wall makes a great case for being able to stabilize the boom both when things get stinky and just to make stowing sail safer without that little bit of boom swing that does sometimes throw me off balance when up on the coachroof.  To minimize this I end up tensioning the hell out of the main halyard led to the boom end against a  line I run under the stern mooring cleat and to the primary winch.  A lot of load to get the boom to be not fully stationary.

How nice (and safe) would it be to simply drop the boom into a notch in a boom gallow, tension the mainsheet, and have a rock steady boom to work on.  Not to mention the value of having just one more handhold (the gallows itself) when going forward.

So, I started puzzling, designing, and seeking resources.  The first question is placement.  I have a hard dodger that has 6" of clearance under the boom when the main is hoisted and 4" with sail down and the pneumatic boom vang/support bottomed out.  The boom also extends just enough past the dodger to take yer face off if yer not paying attention during a jibe of if the main is flogging (It almost happened to my son's girlfriend while picking up the mooring one time--a startling realization for me to keep guests out of that zone while sailing.  I try to keep all guests at the back of the cockpit for safety and to allow me to manage my lines when under way.).

On my boat the best place for the gallows is just aft of the traveller at the forward end of the dodger.  This provides two things:  1. A good vertical mounting surface on the side of the coach roof that will keep the side decks clear and offer easy through bolting.  2. Positioning of the crossbeam just aft of last mainsheet block, far enough aft on the boom to support and stabilize it well.

The second question is construction.  Port Townsend Foundry offers a complete and elegant bronze set up minus the wooden crossbeam that would cost around $1200 all up (including the wood).  Installation should be fairly easy, the most difficult parts being making wedges for the mounting brackets and getting the cross beam to be at just the right height for my 2" vertical boom clearance.

I also drew out a plan to make the whole thing out of a single 4 x 8 sheet of 3/4" plywood.  This option could end up looking a bit blocky and "home made" but could be done for around $300.

So, that's where I'm at in my thought process.  From what I can tell from pictures and a search of the group postings, no other P40s have boom gallows installed.  I'd love to hear from anyone who does have one or any other ideas on how best to execute.  P51 China Doll does have a boom gallows mounted aft of the center cockpit (https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1983/passport-51-3679182/    Beautiful Offshore Spars carbon Y boom, by the way.  I want one!!!)

The closest to what I'm trying to accomplish is here (top picture):  https://www.banksandreedboatworks.com/boomgallows.

Thanks for any thoughts or feedback.

Jim Henerberry

1987 P40, #123  Lottie B

[Rob Raymond]

You're not worried about blocking visibility forward with a gallows?

When we want to make our boom rigid, we slacken the mainsheet a bit, tie a line from the end of the boom to the end of traveler, then pull the traveler across in the opposite direction. This forms a triangle with the boom end line, the mainsheet and the traveler, holding the boom perfectly stationary. 

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[Jeff and Jane Woodward]

Happy New Year Jim,

Here are a few pictures of the gallows on Adagio.  When we bought the boat in 2002, the sockets were already installed on the cabin side, but the legs and gallows were not.  They came to us separately.  When we got around to the installation, we discovered the gallows were too narrow for the boat.  That is partly the cause of the crazy "house that Jack built" angles the gallows legs are made up of.  Additionally, we found a conflict with the boom and dodger heights.  So, we zig-zagged the legs so that the gallows are positioned just forward of the dodger and about 4 - 6 inches below the boom when it is sheeted tight on centerline.

You may also see that we had the transition canvas between the dodger and the bimini cut so that the end of the boom just clears when the boom is in the center cutout of the gallows.

Getting the installation right was not easy, but we are happy with the result.  As you mentioned, the gallows and the legs are great handholds when transitioning between foredeck and cockpit.  When at anchor during strong winds, we lash the boom to the gallows.  We also do that during off-season lay-ups.  Additionally, the gallows are a comfortable place to lean while skylarking on a smooth passage. One last advantage:  when pulling the engine off its mounts, we were able to support the end of the boom in the gallows, put a strap around the boom and using a chain fall with a lifting strap through the salon hatch make the pick.

I hope this is helpful.  Good Luck,

Jeff

Adagio, P-40 #109, 1986

Boat in San Carlos, MX/ Crew in Portland, OR awaiting COVID's passing.

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From: 'jhene...@yahoo.com' via Passport Owners <Passpor...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 1, 2021 10:39 AM
To: Passport Owners <Passpor...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [Passport] P40 Boom Gallows

 

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[jhene...@yahoo.com]

Jeff,

Thanks so much for the info and pictures.  Your placement of the gallows is pretty close to what I'm shooting for and I'm glad to hear that you find them useful.

Today I used some leftover plywood to do a trial run on the plywood version.  As with most projects, there is likely to be the first try and then the "real" one.  At least I'm not dropping $$ to test my theory.  I'll post pics when I have something worth showing.

As I feared, the plywood version already looks a little cumbersome in the barn where my workshop is, but we don't really know until we put them in place.

[jhene...@yahoo.com]

Hello,

In the lull of the galley sink project, I wandered back to the boom gallows.  A friend of mine who likes sailing small catamarans for the thrill of the speed (so knows something about boats) and is a timber framer in real life, was aboard to help with the winter cover.  I was showing him my boom gallows idea and he immediately pointed to the small area aft of the traveller mounts on the coach roof and asked, "Couldn't you mount the feet right there?"

It was like getting a slap aside the head of my own stuckness that it could only be done one way.  So, I started looking at what mounting the boom gallows feet on the coachroof would mean:

1.  Gallows would be more forward, meaning moving the aft mainsheet block forward by 6" (not my preference to concentrate all that load on the boom).

2.  Gallows would be narrower (putting the boom more over the edges of the solar panels on the hard dodger).

3.  Loss of that little stepping spot when coming aft off the coach roof.

4.  More complicated installation requiring removal of the overhead down below and drilling counterbores in the outboard overhead mounting boards for nuts and washers.

The side mounts, like Jeff has on Adiagio, have many advantages with the one downside of messing with the dodger side glass panel mounting strips.  So, yesterday, I ordered the side mount brackets and all the rest from Port Townsend Foundry.  It will all be bronze, which my wife likes for its old fashioned look.  And, it's a pricey addition at $1400 all up including bronze fasteners.  Plus around $200 for the teak cross member and stock for wedges to make the side poles vertical.  I'll find a way to deal with the dodger mount as I proceed.

For me here are the advantages of the gallows that make them worth the price:

1.  Adding the safety factor of having the boom solidly anchored when stowing sail or otherwise meandering around the coachroof in a seaway.

2.  Not having to run the main halyard back to the boom end (I did away with a topping lift when I installed a pneumatic vang that also holds the boom up).

3.  Not having to run a highly tensioned boom end line down to the a cockpit winch which I found necessary to do to stabilize the boom even though it would still have that little wiggle that sometimes caused me to lose my balance when stowing sail or using the boom as a handhold.

4.  The immediacy of dropping the boom into the gallows, tightening the mainsheet, and instant boom stability.

5.  As mentioned above in the thread, extra handholds, and a leaning spot for, maybe someday, taking noon sights (yes I aspire to practice celestial navigation, and even have a sextant that came with the boat).

Ok, ok, I recognize that I'm in full justification mode.  But it is an awful lot of money.

One last thing,  as you can see on Adiagio, the side mounts have flat bottoms where the poles drop in and sit.  Because I have my running backstays set up with retractors that lay right alongside the the coachroof inboard of the genny car tracks, I think they would get stuck under the flat bottom of the side mount pole cups.  I have already had to address this on the little lip of the aftmost port where the running backs would get stuck.  I am having Port Townsend Foundry mitre the bottom of the side mounts at 45 degrees to allow the running backs to smoothly slide up and over the mounts, fingers crossed.

I'll send pictures when all said and done.  Now it's time to gobble some energy pills and get to work.

Jim Henerberry

1987 P40 #123 Lottie B