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I am planning a homebuilt sailing craft that uses a sail similar to the Sunfish (image below) I have seen a few homebuilt sails that use metal electrical conduit for the mast and spars, and am working on a similar design for myself. In the sunfish a Gooseneck is used to connect the boom to the mast. $84 seems a bit much for one peice of a homebuilt sailing rig.

I had contemplated a Forged Swivel at $13 it seems more cost effective, and looks to be at least as strong. (Working load weight 3600 lbs for the 1/2 model) but would probably need to be connected to the mast and boom with rope or "C" clamps.

What is a good solution for the low budget homebuilt sailboat maker?

Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunfish_(sailboat)#/media/File:Sunfish_rigged_for_sailing.jpg

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If you really want to take the budget option you can just use rope.

This is something that dates back to the old wooden ship days but given that you're not putting a vast amount of load on the rig and a gooseneck is fundamentally just two loops with flexibility between them, there's no reason not to just tie it.

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How about this Sprit rig, which requires no hardware for the connection.

The forward end of the boom is attached to the mast with another small line called a Boom SNOTTER. This short line should be permanently on the mast for sake of convenience. It has either a knot or a loop in one end, and goes down through the eye strap to the jamb cleat. Put the knot or loop into the SLOTTED of the boom, and tension the boom snotter according to the wind strength

Of course this also necessitates the implementation of the whole Sprit rig, but it might be just what you need.

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  • That looks interesting, I notice that while the length (10 feet) of the boom is mentioned it does not mention the diameter, is it round or a 2x4 or what? It also does not give size for the sail other than total square feet (62)
    – James Jenkins
    Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 18:00
  • This is a common implementation (not exact): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy)
    – That Idiot
    Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 19:38
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I made one of those rigs once out of wooden poles and and a tarp for a sail. Instead of a gooseneck, I just lashed a round ring to the boom. It's not super stable, but it was cheap and easy.

enter image description here

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