Broken boom on BRE

[Margaret Owen]

I’ve just taken possession of a 2015 BRE so am new to the association. Looking for some advise: on the first sail in fairly moderate wind the boom split at the mast end where the metal bracket is located. Is this a known issue? Has anyone experienced this and/or successfully repaired it? Photo attached.

[Jonathan Stuart]

It looks like the wood has split where drilled for the bracket, so presumably there was either a manufacturing fault or simply a weakness in the wood exacerbated by the bracket. However, early BRes had a weakness in their booms. I believe Swallow modified (strengthened) the booms but I don't know when that started and, hence, which version your would be. My 2012 BRe had an original boom and it bent under load - see photo. It went back to the yard for various bit of work and they strengthened the boom by adding a strip of wood underneath the existing boom. If yours has an original boom, it may be more prone to this sort of failure.

[Margaret Owen]

Thanks for your reply Jonathan. That does look quite bendy. I’ll have a think about reinforcing the boom when I repair it although I didn’t notice much bend on mine…just the sickening snapping sound when it broke… . I also see that Swallow sell carbon booms as an upgrade for the BRE so I suppose I could think about that if the repair doesn’t go well….