Hey, im looking at getting a new wave boom for the new season but i am not too sure which to go for. Im looking at a pryde x6 at the moment but im wondering if its worth paying the extra over an x3 which im also considering. Are they even any good and which others are recommended? Are the hydrodynamix booms any good?
Also, my biggest sail (ezzy wave 5.8) has a 185 boom length and the max extension on the x6 im looking at is 195, are they strong enough to be used at full extension?
I sail at lancelin, green head and margs mainly so i would like to know its gonna hold up pretty well. Thanks, peace and love....

Hi, Phil,

I'd look for a couple of features:

a fully-articulating head, to reduce point load on the mast

a quick-adjusting back end, to allow fast lengthways adjustments when changing sails.

I have a mix of X3, X6 and Maui Sails Wave booms. I use the X3's for my small wave sails (under 5.0m), mainly due to cost compared to the X6. The X6 is much stiffer than the X3, which I prefer in the larger wave sails (5.4 to 6.2). The Maui Sails Wave boom has about the same stiffness as the X6, but was cheaper when I bought it (about 12 months ago), but price wasn't the reason I bought it (I wanted to try the MS clamp head, which does not use as much pressure on the mast during the clamping process).

I like a small boom diameter, but this is not critical for me.

You might care to have a good look at the make of booms that others are using on your local beach, to get a feel for what is most popular.

Hope this helps,

WindmanV

Mark _australia said...

All good choices but the best alloy boom by far is the Tecnolimits King wave (Ergal alloy).... Alberto at Windshack does them.

Fully agree ive had one of these for a while now and it a very stiff boom
Im fully stoked with mine

Phil27 said...

Hey, im looking at getting a new wave boom for the new season but i am not too sure which to go for. Im looking at a pryde x6 at the moment but im wondering if its worth paying the extra over an x3 which im also considering.

No! I have sailed both. The X6 is marginally stiffer, but the difference is almost negligible IMHO. A good full carbon boom makes a _much_ bigger difference for stiffness. The X6 had a reduced diameter though and less swing weight which was nice. But I'm not sure what the diameter of current X3 is, maybe they reduced it further.

I'd also rather buy a Technolimits Ergal than an X6. I haven't had one, but I have a Technolimits full carbon .

Try google, there are a couple of discussions on booms. There was one on seabreeze recently.

Bertie said...

wait 2 weeks and get one of the new pryde booms. new design, better alloy.

still not monocoque thou?

i dunno. i went to the site www.neilpryde.com/?Itemid=120&catid=49%3Aboom&id=104%3Ax3&option=com_content&view=article
but it didnt say. the most recent booms until now were monocoque as stated in the cataloge, but pryde never made a fuss about it untill another manufacturer started boating about monocoque. I cant see why they would go back to 2 piece arms??? I doubt they would.

here we go again tho' $500 for the best alloy boom on the market..... or $1000 for carbon and in my experience they last the same time roughly.

Hmmm..... I give up a LITTLE bit of stiffness for something that is HALF the price (the Ergal is damn stiff, carbon using people would be surprised!)
If you drive 1000km to Gnaraloo I'd rather take 2 x brand new Tecnolimits alloy booms than one carbon

Mark _australia said...

here we go again tho' $500 for the best alloy boom on the market..... or $1000 for carbon and in my experience they last the same time roughly.

Hmmm..... I give up a LITTLE bit of stiffness for something that is HALF the price (the Ergal is damn stiff, carbon using people would be surprised!)
If you drive 1000km to Gnaraloo I'd rather take 2 x brand new Tecnolimits alloy booms than one carbon

You might also be surprised to know that ergal is buggerall stiffer then "normal" aluminium. I think its more about how well the boom is built, rather then purely because its made from ergal. thou, ergal would be stronger.

Mark _australia said...

yeah i know but the ergal seems a bit stiffer than their normal booms were..... at any rate I fail to see the value in carbon ..... esp when i had alloy booms last 3 seasons and only replaced them just to be safe ...... and all my mates with carbon booms were gluing new heads on or had arm fractures after 3 yrs.....

yeah I don't see the point unless u have money to burn. specially for wave kit, i reckon ally booms are the way to go. carbon is probably the go for big slalom + formula kit thou, some of those booms are massive

just get one of the monocoque ally ones suggested above, with the money you save you can buy a new sail almost. Or if you just save it, I think an accountant would tell you that the money you save now is worth more than the money you save down the line with a carbon boom.

swoosh said...

Bertie said...

wait 2 weeks and get one of the new pryde booms. new design, better alloy.

still not monocoque thou?

Monocoque construction came from carbon booms.
Alloy Monos came about as it reduced labour & components (read cheaper to manufacture)
The down side is the alloy is only 1.5mm thick through the front fitting.
A traditional 3 piece boom has a 3mm thick bend through the front & then an overlap in the connection with the arms making 4.5mm thick.
Mono booms are also a throw away when damaged, 3 piece can usually be repaired if the manufacturer suppluies spare parts.
It looks like the new NP construction is 3 piece, with a crimped? or glued? connection rather than bolted.
This may be a step forward but only time will tell.
The latest shapes in alloy booms, although it look stupid it comes about to try & make it more comfortable for the front hand but more inportantly to keep the bend radius through the front as big as possible so as not to weaken the alloy when bending.
Good to see they are going back to larger dia arms on bigger booms, this is why so many brands have had so many failures over the last few years & booms have been so flexy.
Common sense prevails, finally!
Marketing make up all sorts of reasons for changes, usually BS.

Leman said...

Sailhack said...

Ya can't go past the X3, or X6..........


............I've had heaps of 'em!

(If you are a heavy sailor, and set on NP, spend the extra on the X6...it'll give you 1 or 2 'seasons', as opposed to a couple of 'sessions'.)

I'm making my next boom using gal. steel or s/s pipe...not light, but should at least last!

I half agree with Sailhack. If you are a heavy guy be careful but not just with the x3 but also with the x6. At 95kg I've broken 3 X3's and 2 X6's until i finally upgraded to X9. Thankfully the store was like a NP outlet so they were great at replacing them under warranty. They even admitted at my last upgrade there is a known weakness near the head. As far as I know the only difference with the x6 is the adjustable end is carbon but the rest is made the same.

A crazy amount of money but the 2 X9's I have have caused me no problems. One is used to wave/freeride while the other is for my formula.

If you're around 75kg I am sure you will be fine with any aluminium boom.

I can't believe that did not make you reconsider the brand! I'm 95kg and I used a $300 Chinook in heavy waves, lots of trashings due to poor technique and 4 yrs later I only bought new boom just to be safe (and cos I wanted something new and shiny haha)

I've spoken to so many people who have had issues with Pryde booms over the last year. I personally am steering clear of them for another season until the quality issues have definitely been sorted out. I've been sailing a prolimit for three seasons now (just done it's third season sailing 70 days in Greece) and had no problems at all. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

It came down to the hyrdodynamix wave and technolimits ergal alloy booms. I opted for the technolimits king wave in the end, Took it out ononly because of the adjustment range was a little more what i was looking for (ich isnt always best as it weakens the boom) but being a pauper i can only afford one boom to fit all of my sails 4.7, 5.2, 5.8. Feels stiff as, and im pretty happy with it, certainly makes a difference with a decent boom.