Bought a 180-230 silver series S/H and un seen and the first thing I notice was the silly sliding part that wraps the mast retained by the red rope. The grey bit slides out of the blue bit and there is no end stop so if the rope breaks or slips, no boom/mast connection. And sure enough the first time I used it either slipped through the retaining washer or stretched and was not that tight on mast when I returned to shore. At its smallest setting it is still to big for RDM without a shim so it can't be for that. It seems completely useless to me and worse, a feature that is guaranteed to fail in a critical area of the rig. Anyone have experience with this boom head? Can I replace it with a one piece part?

Thats the worst Innovation of a boom clamp l have ever seen. I would not go out for a sail with s boom built like that.

I agree, crap/pointless design, but can you not fix it by tying in a loop knot on the side that's doing the slipping to save yourself having to buy/sort out another boom head? Might need a longer piece of rope..

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gavnwend said..
Thats the worst Innovation of a boom clamp l have ever seen. I would not go out for a sail with s boom built like that.

My sentiments excactly

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Subsonic said..
I agree, crap/pointless design, but can you not fix it by tying in a loop knot on the side that's doing the slipping to save yourself having to buy/sort out another boom head? Might need a longer piece of rope..

Yep only solution I could see for now as well , still don't like the idea of relying on the flimsy 3mm rope holding the boom to the mast though. I'll have to see what I can do about replacing it with a one piece part.

My friend bought one of those, so many bad quality small plastic parts that break all the time, designed to make money from replacement parts. You need those plastic boom adapters that hug the rdm mast.

North have been a solid sail system for me for years past. And their stuff was robust. I'm hearing different now. I'm now a fragile NP kind of guy. My new untested big sail is a DUO S pace 9.3, only cos I couldn't get a NP V8, 9.4. Same kind of sail.??? Keen to see how that works out. I know a new NP V8 9.4 is out there but if I want one, I will have to pay top dollar and wait 9 months. I know, boo Hoo. It's sad I can't buy what I want without waiting 9 months.

Mob da Dog, that boom is like over 10 years old and would fine on an SDM, use an RDM generic shim with it and marvel at the German technology

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Imax1 said..
North have been a solid sail system for me for years past. And their stuff was robust. I'm hearing different now. I'm now a fragile NP kind of guy. My new untested big sail is a DUO S pace 9.3, only cos I couldn't get a NP V8, 9.4. Same kind of sail.??? Keen to see how that works out. I know a new NP V8 9.4 is out there but if I want one, I will have to pay top dollar and wait 9 months. I know, boo Hoo. It's sad I can't buy what I want without waiting 9 months.

I have always found north equipment to be good quality gear as well. This boom head is a design issue rather than a quality issue. I'm no engineer just a humble carpenter and it only took one look at it to realise this is not good. I don't know how a company like north could get a small but critical detail so wrong and i cant work out the thinking behind the design there just seems to be no benefits to it. No such issues with s pace sails I don't reckon, I've seen a couple of them up close and they look every bit as good as the old rams they have superseded, still got a hell of a luff curve on them though, wonder if their any easier to rig than the old beasts.

I have a North sails platinum boom 190 - 250 that I had to replace the boom head-on. I contacted my local Duotone rep and the design had not changed, just the logo. It took about 10 mins to change over.
It might be helpful to contact duotone and ask.

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Henners said..

I have a North sails platinum boom 190 - 250 that I had to replace the boom head-on. I contacted my local Duotone rep and the design had not changed, just the logo. It took about 10 mins to change over.
It might be helpful to contact duotone and ask.

A have a 2021 Duotone silver and the boom head does not look like mob dog's. But yes, I wouldn't be surprised the front end is the same (or same diameter at least) so a new Duotone head might work. I am pretty happy with my boom.

edit: this is the head Duotone uses

Problem solved ! Should have just got this in the first place.

Update: I have now completed modifications to the boom head including replacing the plastic friction washer with an aluminium countersunk washer which I serated on the underside with a sharp Stanley knife and drilling out the hole which the rope passes through and replacing the rope with 4mm dyneema. Still a crap design but I now believe it will be safe at least, no slipping or breaking. Field test today and if it's safe I will pass on to a beginner for free.

Why do you have the rope tied to the uphaul connection point? If you want to understand something you ask you don't criticise the product. This boom head is around 10 years old and at that time was the preferred boom of 75% of the PWA sailors using it without problems. They never slipped if used properly. The red rope is Dyneema, more than strong enough for the job. Yes you need a shim for RDM like any other boom. It came new with a shim as well.
If the red rope is slipping tighten the screw.
Pity I didn't see your post earlier as I was in Tea Gardens today and could have looked at it for you.

Buying a 10 year old aluminium boom..your remorse will most likely be swimming in after the boom arm breaks. I wouldn't be too worried about the boom head.

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AUS4 said..
Why do you have the rope tied to the uphaul connection point? If you want to understand something you ask you don't criticise the product. This boom head is around 10 years old and at that time was the preferred boom of 75% of the PWA sailors using it without problems. They never slipped if used properly. The red rope is Dyneema, more than strong enough for the job. Yes you need a shim for RDM like any other boom. It came new with a shim as well.
If the red rope is slipping tighten the screw.
Pity I didn't see your post earlier as I was in Tea Gardens today and could have looked at it for you.

The rope on the uphaul connection point is an uphaul rope! And I can not understand why this boom has the sliding bit, what is the point of it, what is it for, its totally unnecessary. I realise that you need an rdm shim that's not the problem I have with it, it's the fact that the part is holding to the mast with 3mm rope, dyneema or not, not to mention it passes over sharp edges at 2 points under tension. And the standard plastic retaining washer was as tight as it would go and it still slipped. I stand by my criticism of this boomhead I'm no pwa sailor but, it is not a good design and I won't be using it, bought a brand new one with a head that makes sense and is logical.

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Roy said..
Buying a 10 year old aluminium boom..your remorse will most likely be swimming in after the boom arm breaks. I wouldn't be too worried about the boom head.

Yep, lesson learnt the hard way, I've purchased a brand new one, all my other booms are carbon, this one is for my stx inflatable board and I only use that for learning new manoeuvres like duck jibes so I don't ding my good boards in the learning curve so carbon unnecessary for this application.

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mob dog said..

The rope on the uphaul connection point is an uphaul rope! And I can not understand why this boom has the sliding bit, what is the point of it, what is it for, its totally unnecessary. I realise that you need an rdm shim that's not the problem I have with it, it's the fact that the part is holding to the mast with 3mm rope, dyneema or not, not to mention it passes over sharp edges at 2 points under tension. And the standard plastic retaining washer was as tight as it would go and it still slipped. I stand by my criticism of this boomhead I'm no pwa sailor but, it is not a good design and I won't be using it, bought a brand new one with a head that makes sense and is logical.

if you bothered to Google North Windsurfing 2009-14 you could have read about the 10 year boom you bought second hand or asked a shop. After 10 years the retaining washer may have worn, these parts are available.
Some people just don't want to be helped or can't be helped. lm calling operator error!

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AUS4 said..

mob dog said..

The rope on the uphaul connection point is an uphaul rope! And I can not understand why this boom has the sliding bit, what is the point of it, what is it for, its totally unnecessary. I realise that you need an rdm shim that's not the problem I have with it, it's the fact that the part is holding to the mast with 3mm rope, dyneema or not, not to mention it passes over sharp edges at 2 points under tension. And the standard plastic retaining washer was as tight as it would go and it still slipped. I stand by my criticism of this boomhead I'm no pwa sailor but, it is not a good design and I won't be using it, bought a brand new one with a head that makes sense and is logical.

if you bothered to Google North Windsurfing 2009-14 you could have read about the 10 year boom you bought second hand or asked a shop. After 10 years the retaining washer may have worn, these parts are available.
Some people just don't want to be helped or can't be helped. lm calling operator error!

I have googled and read the above info and it still makes no sense what the advantages are. Also this "innovation " has been discontinued and reverted back to a more traditional style of boom head, WHY?

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mob dog said..

Subsonic said..
I agree, crap/pointless design, but can you not fix it by tying in a loop knot on the side that's doing the slipping to save yourself having to buy/sort out another boom head? Might need a longer piece of rope..

Yep only solution I could see for now as well , still don't like the idea of relying on the flimsy 3mm rope holding the boom to the mast though. I'll have to see what I can do about replacing it with a one piece part.

Formuline? vry much doubt that you'd be able to break 3mm dyneema unless you shred it in the cleat.