Wondering if anyone has attempted to shorten an enigma boom.
Is it possible to take the ferules off shorten by about 5cm and re glue ferules. On my 180 to 230 boom I need about 5cm shorter for my smallest sail, but only need about 220cm for my largest.
Anyone attempted this?

Don't do this.
Buy a shorter boom instead. A second boom. That's the proper answer.
One day you'll need an even shorter boom length, and that second boom will fit the smaller sails you eventually have..
(Or maybe you'll give up windsurfing and when you sell the kit it won't be kit no-one wants because it was vandalised. )

You can also use the one boom you have for a smaller sails by lashing the clew to fit, with extra rope, without sideways movement. That just means there is un-used boom length stuck out to the rear of the sail.
And that again, is not a recommended solution.

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dkeating said..
Wondering if anyone has attempted to shorten an enigma boom.
Is it possible to take the ferules off shorten by about 5cm and re glue ferules. On my 180 to 230 boom I need about 5cm shorter for my smallest sail, but only need about 220cm for my largest.
Anyone attempted this?

Simple job, BUT.

Before you cut anything, find something the same diameter as the extension but longer to make sure it will go inside the boom arm the extra 50mm you require.
Once you cut it there is no going back

No , I wouldnt .... you will also lose fraction stiffness maybe on yr biggest sail ... as less boom arm length/stiffness and setting on more backend extension ...

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seabreezer said..
No , I wouldnt .... you will also lose fraction stiffness maybe on yr biggest sail ... as less boom arm length/stiffness and setting on more backend extension ...

Recently there is some craze for cutting and adapting carbon masts and booms... obviously hard times are knocking on the door...

Hell yeh I'd do this. Be fine.

5cm? Hardly worth the effort. Plus sometimes the ferules are hard to get off. In the past people have cut them off and glued on new ones, but in your case, you only have 5cm to work with.

Can you make something up that is a bracket that extends the clew of the sail without too much movement?

Thanks for the input suggestions. 7cm shorter would probably be ideal. Hard to know with the wide tail boom if a 12cm gap really causes too many problems it just doesn't look right and a fair distance to flop from side to side. I'm using an Chinook apple core pulley on adjustable outhaul so the suggestion of extending the clew might work to.

The final geometry can look a little weird but it's not a difficult job. I've shortened an Epic and an old Fiberspar from Formula length to something more practical and both work really well, although they're much wider than current designs of the same length. With the Epic I was able to heat the boom end enough to twist off the clamps and reuse them. The Fiberspar twist-locks were pretty shot already so I bought new ones. You don't need anything really burly to reattach the boom ends - just good waterproof contact cement.

I do agree that it's silly to cut 5cm - that much excess is easy to allow for by binding the clew to either side of the boom. I cut mine by 20 and 30cm which is honestly a bit extreme, and on the Fiberspar also cut the interior boom arms on the tailpiece to allow them to slide all the way in. That wasn't necessary on the Epic and it's still plenty stiff at full extension.

I don't have a problem with cutting booms. I've done a couple of X9's and I checked my Enigma to do the same and it comes apart easily. Easy job as mentioned above.

Stop drinking coffee for some months and get yourself a new boom...

The arm pin thingies on the Enigma aren't glued. At least they weren't on mine. They're just a tight fit. You should be able to twist them off.

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NotWal said..
The arm pin thingies on the Enigma aren't glued. At least they weren't on mine. They're just a tight fit. You should be able to twist them off.

Use a shifter and hammer

You can totally shorten the boom. After all, it's plastic :) I almost always find myself fixing/adjusting something after I get new windsurfing stuff. Pain.. but reality. (quality is not the best sometimes. China)

A few points from my experience:

1. It may be time consuming to remove the pin lock from the boom. I guess since you are cutting them with the carbon pipe they are glued on, you can somehow shave the pipe off from inside.

2. You need to make sure that the shortened boom (7cm shorter) can accommodate the boom back-end that slides in. If it reaches the boom curve, it will stop. Easy to measure.

If you need to shorten the boom - shorten the boom. But measure things well before.

PS> Agree with previous post about Hammer to try to twist the pin locks. Indeed, sometimes they are not glued but very tightly fit.

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choco said..

NotWal said..
The arm pin thingies on the Enigma aren't glued. At least they weren't on mine. They're just a tight fit. You should be able to twist them off.

Use a shifter and hammer

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leto said..
You can totally shorten the boom. After all, it's plastic :) I almost always find myself fixing/adjusting something after I get new windsurfing stuff. Pain.. but reality. (quality is not the best sometimes. China)

you do know other countries produce **** as well?
blame the companys who go to china to get their stuff made on the cheap, blame yourself for not wanting to pay more for a product. You get what you pay for.

I know The owner of a very large bike company Who moved manufacturing to China to reduce cost, the first few months of product was crap then he offfered to pay more and suddenly we had had some of the best made carbon frames and components out there.

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Ben1973 said..

leto said..
You can totally shorten the boom. After all, it's plastic :) I almost always find myself fixing/adjusting something after I get new windsurfing stuff. Pain.. but reality. (quality is not the best sometimes. China)

you do know other countries produce **** as well?
blame the companys who go to china to get their stuff made on the cheap, blame yourself for not wanting to pay more for a product. You get what you pay for.

I know The owner of a very large bike company Who moved manufacturing to China to reduce cost, the first few months of product was crap then he offfered to pay more and suddenly we had had some of the best made carbon frames and components out there.

I have to agree, everyone bags China but they make some awesome stuff if given the materials, equipment & instruction required.
You basically get what you pay for & specify, BUT, you need to stay there & keep an eye on the production.
Remember, these people have no clue as what they are making nor care, they will slip back into their old ways very quickly if not supervised.
I ran a factory in Asia for 3 years & every day I told them the same thing, over & over & over.
If I went on holidays when I came back it was like starting over

You nominate the materials & manage the processes & QA & you will get a good product, after all it's just a cheaper pair of hands.

I recently shortened a old NP formula boom by 36cm, put a new clamp on it and new pin thingies on the end as well, good as gold, waste not want not.

Thanks for all the tips, just waiting for a day to use my smallest sail to confirm the cutoff length.
I could rig it up in the backyard, when I get the time and motivation.

I have shortened that exact Enigma boom no problems mate so I could use it for my 5.7 Which is now all I use the boom for so not very often unfortunately.
dont really like the boom much anyway the holes elongate Very badly before I made any changes it's heavy the head is weak but it is comfy and stiff. I had to put a Maui head on it. My AL360 booms are in a different class but yes you get what you pay for.