Anyone use them? The half cylinder plastic sheaves that go around the mast under the boom - I assume to spread the load.I always have but my new boom doesn't have space for me to use one..too narrow a clamp opening.
I'm worried the extra load on the masts without one will result in breakage?
I use them all the time on RDMs. I like the idea that they will spread the load, and if I switch back to SDMs I shouldn't have to adjust the boom's clamp.
Hey, if they make your boom for RDMs without a shim, you may as well use it that way. That's the same as using SDMs without a shim.
My masts are all standard diameter...So other people don't use any 'padding/ sleeve' under the SDM's?
I did sometimes. It depended on the boom and whether the masts kept slipping. I used a thin rubber one under a NP boom, and a thin plastic one under a hydrodynamix boom. In the end, I probably didn't use them at all, and as I recall no one I sailed with bothered with them either.
I prefer the Ezzy 'no-limitz' shim that I use with my RDMs, as come to think of it, I have never had the boom slip on the mast.
They're not to protect the mast, they are to stop your boom from slipping if it doesn't grip the mast properly. A good boom shouldn't need one unless you are using an RDM, then a RDM adapter is the thing to use.
Good so I can stop worrying that if I sail without them all my masts will crack & break.?.
I have NP booms and have to use one on my North mast (to stop the boom slipping) but not on my Severne Blue Line. Same boom different masts.
I've found the new boom doesn't slip as much as the older one although sometimes I didn't tighten it as much as I could as I was worried about breaking the mast..my fault not the booms.
One disadvantage with the new one is that it's harder to adjust on the water as it's harder to push up or down due to it being 'grippier' on the mast.New ones a mystic Venom.
