Boom resurfacing help wanted

[nancy]

My booms cushioning material is starting to tear off in places. Any ideas on how to recover or repair?

[spyder]

you can buy boom grip replacement material from windance.com (or many other online retailers).

The basic idea is to scrap off all the old boom grip with a razor blade, and then apply contact cement to the clean metal/carbon part of the boom handles and the material. Then after it is dry, carefully apply the material to the boom handles, best to smooth it on with a roller or large dowel (a soup can will work). cut away any excess, and cement down any area that didnt adhere.

[isobars]

Why bother? Its just going to scuff off again. Boom grips/coverings are like shoe soles -- theyre going to look ratty before long. Its part of the game, not worth worrying about. The boom grip replacement business has all but disappeared because 1) the job is such a hassle, 2) no one wants to pay enough to nake it worth the repair guys time, 3)its just going to get scuffed agai, and 4) new aluminum booms dont cost much more than having a pro re-grip them. Theres a Boom Doctor in the Gorge willing to regrip your aluminum booms for $60 (carbon costs more because it musnt be scratched and/or chemicals may hurt it), but then my last new aluminum booms cost ... $60.

DIY? Shoot ... WD-40 fumes will make your eyes sting for days. Razor blades? You really wanna scrape and scape and scrape and pick and pick and scrape 10 feet of crap off a round surface? Contact cement? Jeez, but that stuff is a pain to apply, get off your hands, and get the cat hair out of, and many types are mind-blowing chemicals. Then the seams look like blazes anyway, and ya STILL got contact cement all over the cat and your hands.

When so much of the grip is worn off that it actually affects your sailing, its probably time to replace the boom anyway, as they do wear out and break some day.

Go sailin. Its more fun than sweating scuffed booms. Lifes too short to worry about cosmetics.

Mike \m/