The holes on the extension piece of my carbon boom has started to wear and I wanted to hear if anyone has any experience with restoring these holes.
A couple of guys have suggested that I could use araldite and sand off any excess. I've also thought abt drilling new holes on the other side of the backend but I'm worried that new holes may weaken the boom.
Appreciate any input
Just a thought put in a slightly bigger locking pin . That way you won't have to drill new holes.???.
Get some brass or ally pipe the right dia, cut lots of 2" lengths. (Avail at hobby shops). Best to cut with cheap pipe cutter designed for copper plumbing pipe, $5 at Bunnings for a cheapy one.... cos vice and hacksaw will just munt it when it is such small pipe.
Wax well with shoe polish (like Kiwi / Nugget, it's the poor mans mould release wax)
Insert one length in each hole
Fill around with a GOOD solid epoxy designed for filling, like JB Weld or Devcon 10110. make sure it is poked in with a toothpick etc as it wont drop into small holes well as it is thick.
Rip out bits of pipe after 24hrs.
(don't even think about Araldite it is an adhesive not a filler, and is not designed for constant immersion, water buggers it up if wet a lot)
I agree with Mark's approach.
I coated the backend of one of my booms in epoxy to protect it a bit and even though I used a small amount, while hanging to dry enough pooled into one side of the holes to make them too small for the pins. If I had used a plug of some sort, or even let the arm dry hole side up, it would have avoided the problem.
I ended up cleaning up the holes with a step drill, but I would have preferred to avoid it.
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
Get some brass or ally pipe the right dia, cut lots of 2" lengths. (Avail at hobby shops). Best to cut with cheap pipe cutter designed for copper plumbing pipe, $5 at Bunnings for a cheapy one.... cos vice and hacksaw will just munt it when it is such small pipe.
Wax well with shoe polish (like Kiwi / Nugget, it's the poor mans mould release wax)
Insert one length in each hole
Fill around with a GOOD solid epoxy designed for filling, like JB Weld or Devcon 10110. make sure it is poked in with a toothpick etc as it wont drop into small holes well as it is thick.
Rip out bits of pipe after 24hrs.
(don't even think about Araldite it is an adhesive not a filler, and is not designed for constant immersion, water buggers it up if wet a lot)
Mark, you are a positive encyclopaedia of useful DIY information. Where do you get it all?
Not wanting to brand bash (very unusual for me 
) I recently got a smaller version 170-230 carbon boom of my larger 190-240 boom based on just how good the bigger one has performed - it's still going strong after 4 years.
Anyhow I had initially used new boom about 4times and everything felt okay apart from it being a bit loose in the back end compared to other booms Ive had (and still do have). Then the next time I was sailing on starboard and the port side tail pins released at 206 and under load slipped and locked back in at 188 extension (making the boom look like a banana) . I initially thought the boom had cracked due to the noise it made and thought that maybe the clip wasn???t fully in but then it did it again the next session which confirmed that there was an issue with the tail end being too loose allowing the pins to slip under load.
So analysing the boom I found that the holes in the extension were oversized for the pins and the tail diameter is too small and gave it just enough play to slip. The retailer kindly sent me up another tail piece but it was only ever so slightly better and knew it would probably do exactly the same thing.
Taking matters into my own hands I decided on filling the pin holes with a epoxy / qcell mix and then wrapping the tail piece in carbon cloth. Taped it up, let it set and then gave it a light sand. Used the plastic clip housing as a guide (see photo) and redrilled holes smaller than original so pins are a tight fit. Used now about 5 times with no slipping and it feels so much stiffer.
^^^ Took a while to drill with the bit upside-down?
Good work, that is a neat job.
Hi Sausage,
Did you get any feedback from the manufacturer about this problem. If I'm not mistaken that's a very reputable brand that claims to be the world's best, so I would have thought they'd take this pretty seriously.
Cheers, Jens
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
^^^ Took a while to drill with the bit upside-down?
Good work, that is a neat job.
I was using the drill bit as a marker pin but you knew that, didn't you 
Select to expand quoteJens said..
Hi Sausage,
Did you get any feedback from the manufacturer about this problem. If I'm not mistaken that's a very reputable brand that claims to be the world's best, so I would have thought they'd take this pretty seriously.
Cheers, Jens
Jens,
I know the retailer has alerted the manufacturer but hasn't heard back as to whether they are going to rectify this apparent design fault. I did post on their forum and they advised that this whilst not unheard of (mainly in Australia) was not a common occurance but I beg to differ as I've now heard contrary (regarding earlier model though and not this one specifically). As mentioned I cannot fault my bigger one which swayed me in favour of purchasing another.
Also the retailer has done everything possible to rectify this issue so it is now up to the manufacturer to remedy the problem. In fact big thanks to the retailer as I've had nothing but 100% satisfaction when it comes to warranty issues and service.
PS - from extensive experience they do have the best head clamp design and I have changed over numerous other booms to their clamps. Daylight comes second to their tail end pulley set-up too.
