Changing boom sheeting

[SVTinCup]

We have a Bristol 31.1 with a Hood Stoboom (in boom furling) for the mainsail. The boom is sheeted to an anchor point arrangement just in front of the steering pedestal. This is the common sheeting point for most Bristols of this size. The boom has adjustable bails that slide along a track on each side of the boom; single blocks are attached to each bail.

The bails are currently set as far aft as possible on the boom in order to line up with the anchor point in the center of the cockpit just forward of the pedestal steering. I would like to move these boom bails forward of the dodger and install a traveler for sheeting the boom. Unfortunately, this would move the sheeting points on the boom well forward of their current location. On a relatively short boom, the bails would be moved to a spot approximately one-third of the way back from the gooseneck. Is this too far forward in terms of load and control considerations?

Comments are certainly welcome. Thanks. Roger SV Tin Cup

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
Sheet location plays off the boom as leverage with block and tackles as leverage; at the end of the boom you maximize boom leverage, so you need less block leverage, and at midboom it's the opposite. But further forward than midboom, no amount of block (or winch) leverage is going to compensate for the near-absence of boom leverage, even if you could keep the bails from ripping out and the gooseneck from failing.
What you are dealing with, then, is not how to move the sheet forward of the dodger, but how to come up with some other way of escaping from the awful setup that came with the boat. A bridge deck traveler might fit aft of the dodger, but would probably present uncacceptable acrobatic challenges for crew movement fore and aft. So how about building your mainsheet traveler into an appropriately reinforced boom gallows? This would get the sheet off the deck, give you a functional traveler, and retain leverage. It would require good engineering, of course.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[SVTinCup]

Thanks Brion..........This is a unique approach; I suppose it would look something like the arch/sheeting arrangement on some of the Hunters. I also thought of using the aft end of the stoboom but that would mean a block/anchor point on each side of the cockpit if I wanted to avoid a traveler. The initial idea was to get the mainsheet out of the cockpit in order to install a bimini and awning connection to the aft end of the dodger. As you said, it is a less than desireable setup.

I have the original boom and have occassionaly thought to replacing the stoboom with it, but then I would need a new mainsail. Oh well. Love these challenges. I could leave well enough alone, but ......

At any rate, thanks Brion Toss for taking the time to repond to my questions.

Roger Rippy
SV Tin Cup