new chinook alloy

[downwind dave]

as a big fan of metal booms, i am wondering if any of you globe-traveling dudes have seen the new chinook.
Is it something they built from scratch or did they just outsource something. They don't really say on the website.

http://www.chinooksailing.com/products/ ... cts_id=263

[nanmoo]

Sounds nice, don't like the head design though. But I agree, I too prefer the heavy metal booms.

[KUS]

Matt Pritchard was testing it and offered it to me in Maui nice guy that he is. Pretty light for alu and sturdy cuz of the extruded odd shape, plenty stiff. i didn't use it cuz he had 30 inch lines on the thing.

They might have something there....I'll stick with carbon tho, haven't broken one since they got rid of the alu joint front end.

[Windsurfish]

These look like a good/better version of the Al booms from hotsails - Nice!

[mortontoemike]

Fiberspar has a tutorial on carbon vs Al at:

http://www.fibersparsports.com/whycarbon.html

They ARE trying to sell carbon booms though so I guess a grain of salt is required.

[downwind dave]

I am so over that whole debate.
my wondering is more if that is the same front end you see on many 'similar looking' other brands. i'll pop an email to chinook and see whats up.

[Keen]

these ones look interesting too

http://windsurfingmag.com/gear/2010/02/ ... grip-boom/

http://www.aeronsport.com/Web/index.html

have never seen this brand before though. European maybe?

[mortontoemike]

I get that DWD. The nicest Al boom I have ever had was a Makai Al which I don't think is made anymore.

Having broken a couple of Al booms due to corrosion at the head I decided to replace them gradually with carbon. I won't buy another Al boom because of this. I was religious about rinsing inside and out as well.

Some of the front ends on the carbon booms are just god awful. I'm thinking Fiberspar Posigrip 135cm-163cm here. Hateful. I also don't like Chinook's click in system for extensions. In fact not a big fan of Chinook at all.

I have been using one of KUS' "CandyApple Red" booms and I like it a lot. Nice grip, great front end and, very smooth extension, light and stiff.

[downwind dave]

well Chinook sent me a friendly email. apparently the rear end is the regular chinook tail w/ the added bonus of true distance marks..and the front clamp is a new but shared design with some other brand.

[nanmoo]

we have added "absolute" size marking to the tails, so you can just look at the boom to see where it is set. No more adding!

Revolutionary! Ground Breaking! How did they ever think of that? Is the meaning of life coming next?

But seriously, tts amazing that this revolutionary concept took so long for some companies to adpot. I mean come on...

[KUS]

well, yeah, i don't think i have EVER looked at the numbers on the boom and my only refs to measurements for outhaul/boom length come off the sail bag to see if they fit a 140-190 or 160-210 As far as I'm concerned, skip the numbers, save the paint, make the boom 14 cents cheaper

[GWIND]

Numbers- I get them all mixed up in my head to Kuster.

[downwind dave]

well i have used the new chinook boom 4 times now and heres my quick review.
The curve in the front is really nice for sail flips and fast boom -to-boom moves like the vulcan and my signature move, the 2/3 spock attempt. i find it really comfy. it seems stiff enough with my 5.3 which is nice as i have it mainly for 4.7 and smaller.

The new clamp works really well. The cleat is metal. i decided to go shimless for the first time since the front end has squishy rubber molded in. You can unclamp it under outhaul tension to adjust mast height on the water.. my old triple clamps didn't like that move.

The rear end has been changed a bit so that you can do a loop-n-go system with a cleat that you don't need to thread which is really slick and fast. The single-pin adjust is the same as the old chinook system. so overall i think its a really nice boom, hopefully it holds up.