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While waiting for the wind to come up today (story of my life), I noticed that the boom on my duotone slick 6.5 wasn't straight - twisted a little to one side at the tail end. I grabbed the back of the boom in one hand and the very tail of the fuselage in the other end was able to twist it in the reverse direction so it's completely straight.

Has anyone else noticed this before? I'm guessing it would give the Wing a slightly more nosedown attitude in One Direction and slightly more nose up in the other.

Can you post a pic, because I really can,t visualize it (and have 2 Slicks+ alu and carbon booms).

Sounds like the boom wasn't lined up straight in the sleeve before you added air pressure. I like to check that the boom end is all the way in the sleeve and everything is straight when the wing has some air pressure in it but before there is too much pressure to adjust it. The boom sleeve would probably rotate and straighten out as soon as decent wind hit it. No big deal.

Three Slicks here (6m 5 and 4m) from the get go and never had any sort of twist issue.

My only issue was the boom pocket spacing on my 4m being way too long resulting my AL boom popping out while riding. Duotone sent me a new 4m Slick (after I showed them a required pic of my original 4m sliced up), but it had the exact same issue, so I gave up and made a small removable boom extension adapter, and it now works fine. Still quite happy with my Slicks despite that one issue. Looking forward to the next version...maybe.

I occasionally get the back of the middle strut slightly twisted. On my "Hockeybooms", I shaped the back piece so that it has a slightly wider flat that goes against the wing. It's pretty solid once the wing is pumped, so I think it's just something that happens if you don't keep it straight while pumping. I don't know if it makes all that much difference when sailing.

I have noticed that the Slick booms can be quite a bit longer and you can use them just fine. The Echo used boom length adjustment to tune the sail, but then it didn't have a center strut. Still, I think boom length could potentially be used to tune wing performance to some extent? The 125 boom is actually 128cm long, but up to 130cm seems to work fine. Officially, there's no shorter boom, but if there was, it would probably be called a 110 and it would be 113cm long.

BTW, I'm going to release the 3D models for the Hockeyboom front and back end piece and make a Youtube video about it as well. We have had a colder than usual April, so I haven't been on the water with these yet, but I used them on ice and snow. My first video will be on another winging-related 3D print, but as a teaser, the Hockeyboom can be seen in it. I should be able to release the first video this weekend. My "110" Hockeyboom weighs 260 grams (and the carbon part was free).

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JuriM said..
BTW, I'm going to release the 3D models for the Hockeyboom front and back end piece and make a Youtube video about it as well. We have had a colder than usual April, so I haven't been on the water with these yet, but I used them on ice and snow. My first video will be on another winging-related 3D print, but as a teaser, the Hockeyboom can be seen in it. I should be able to release the first video this weekend. My "110" Hockeyboom weighs 260 grams (and the carbon part was free).

Here's the video I mention above. It's not specifically about the hockey stick booms, but they are shown, so if you are curious, take a look. I hope it's OK to post the link. It's my first YouTube video of this type, so be kind. :)