This is a complicated topic. Raise the main all the way to the top, and then let it down about 3 inches. That is where the main should be so that no damage occurs to the head of the sail. The hardware needs to lay right up there, so that is why you don't hoist all the way to the top. Once you have done that you will see where your boom should be. It should sit a few inches below the sail slug slot. I keep a sail stop a few inches below that so that when I release the main the boom doesn't slide all the way down the mast. It is true that we have floating booms. The next thing to do is either use a downhaul through that ring on the bottom of the gooseneck, or do what I do which is to use the cunningham cringle that is 6 inches up the main. That allows me proper tension on the luff. Once that is all correct, if your boom is at an angle with the topping lift released it could be that your sails are stretched. Daniel On 8/26/2013 2:39 PM, Thom Loftus wrote:

Hi Everyone. I am a new M15 owner and was wondering about the seemingly arbitrary way in which the boom sits in the mast. On my boat, the boom falls and stops roughly a foot or so beneath the mast track opening, and there doesn't seem to be any obvious means of keeping it in place when the main is raised. I've noticed that my gooseneck does have a ring on the bottom and I wonder if that is intended to be connected to something on the mast or deck to keep the boom down (perhaps I should rig a boom vang?). When I set the topping lift to set the end of the boom roughly level with the goose neck, It seems that my main sail is just a bit saggy. This suggests that the boom should fall aft at a slight angle, but that looks odd to me (and it reduces head room in the cockpit. Any and all suggestions welcome. Thanks, Thom

Welcome Thom, If after properly tensioning and positioning the sail on the mast it still looks like the boom is slanting downhill and robbing you of head room in the cockpit you might check the mast rake itself. It should slant back a couple of degrees off of vertical. Any more than that and you will feel a stronger than necessary weather helm as well as the boom actually slanting down towards the stern too much. Good luck, Tom B M17 #258 On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 4:39 PM, Thom Loftus <thom_loftus@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi Everyone. I am a new M15 owner and was wondering about the seemingly arbitrary way in which the boom sits in the mast. On my boat, the boom falls and stops roughly a foot or so beneath the mast track opening, and there doesn't seem to be any obvious means of keeping it in place when the main is raised. I've noticed that my gooseneck does have a ring on the bottom and I wonder if that is intended to be connected to something on the mast or deck to keep the boom down (perhaps I should rig a boom vang?). When I set the topping lift to set the end of the boom roughly level with the goose neck, It seems that my main sail is just a bit saggy. This suggests that the boom should fall aft at a slight angle, but that looks odd to me (and it reduces head room in the cockpit. Any and all suggestions welcome. Thanks, Thom