boom failure- this ever happen to anyone else?

[slambo]

Hi there, my fairly new chinook big wave carbon boom failed me yesterday on a great day only after 15 mins of sailing. This boom was new since fall of 2009 and has limited use in mostly flat water. The 2 screw bolts that holds the arm in the head snapped and thus I was screwed. The arm pulls out while I was powered up on a 5.0 and my pull away was so strong it snapped the carbon tail completely at the clew. Fortunately, the boom was still attached and I was able to sail to a side shoreline. Lucky I was sailing in a bay that had a "L" shoreline

I have all chinook carbons and love them. Some are 4-6 yrs old and they have always held up great but this was weird- I did hear a snap sound after jibing and wasn't sure if it was the mast but all was sweet until it happened.

This happen to anyone else? Are arm pieces available for purchase- just need one arm, new screws and a new tail piece- prob call chinook and see what they say. I wondered if this was a defect? Maybe its time to go to the new one piece from this yr.

[jingebritsen]

yup, some brands get more distribution than others, most break after a number of uses depending on their construction. i've been sailing the epic brand for lots of years. they have their issues too, but usually last very long. aluminum: about 300,000 pumps, carbon, about 1,000,000.

harness lines last very long from epic:

http://www.aerotechsails.com/harness09.html

http://www.aerotechsails.com/booms09.html

monocoque boom bodies tend to extend the life of the boom.

[jfeehan]

Wow...

I have one of those booms, and I just assumed that it was one piece of carbon.

It sounds like Chinook has a new model that is a single piece.

Is it common for carbon booms to be made of two pieces like this?

I just don't see that it makes sense to go through the trouble of using carbon, but then use such a poor design.

[wsurfn1426]

Slambo:

First I am very sorry. Boom breakage sucks, and especially on a relatively new carbon boom.

The first thing to do is contact Chinook. They are great to deal with. They are windsurfers and North American, and it is like talking to a friend. They understand, and take pride in their products. I have had to deal with them on a few problems, and they (especially Andy) have gone out of their way to help.

Jeff:

Before we slam the design, note that Slambo and a lot of us have had these booms take some serious abuse. Failure happens to all booms. I am on my third Maui Sails boom. They are also great about taking care of their customers. All booms break.

The advantage of the 2 piece design was that you could replace a side if necessary, and it could be broken down smaller for travel.

The down side on this boom has been that the 2 piece front end is not as stiff as a monocoque design. This most noticeable in the bigger booms.

The triple head design had some early cage/flap issues, that were fixed, but the big thing was some people crushed their SDMasts with the huge mechanical advantage the triple clamp design provides.

They moved on to the monocoque front end with Aeron type clamp on with the Pro One Carbon. My friend has one and loves it. I saw online, they are moving to a twin pin rear adjustment clip (no metal) too for increased stiffness this year.

Slambo, it looks like the front carbon tube that is crimped shaped so the bolts pass through it, cracked and failed. One possibility is the bolts were overtorqued, but could just have been a manufacture defect.


Chinook makes very good stuff and are one few manufactures that still makes some of their products in the USA.

I bet Chinook will help you out.

[capetonian]

[mat-ty]

I still swear by aluminum, zero problems in twelve years, a third of the price.

I just hope that new Dreamliner(all carbon) airplane does not crack in half , after the daily abuse of flying.

[wsurfn1426]

I don't think the HPL counts as true monocoque. In HPL and Fiberspar, the arms are bonded to the front end instead of a continuous one piece mould.

I agree, Aeron (who manufactures MS and NP) pushed the single piece mould that incorporates the arms to provide a stiffer front end, has pushed Chinook to improve their design. HPL is gone. Is Fiberspar still making booms?

The other major player is E Fwu Enterprise Co Ltd in Taiwan who manufacture Autima, Epic and the Windwing vesion of Gulftech. These are bonded front end booms. I had one of these Gulftechs and was very disappointed in the quality. Got what I paid for (cheap).

The al360 from Italy looks very strong, but I do not know a lot about them, and if you can get them here in the US.

[johnl]

[boardsurfr]

[speedysailor]