How Light is Too Light?

I took the afternoon off and took care of last minute Christmas shopping on the way home. At home I figured out what I wanted to accomplish at the shed and what time I needed to be back home to get ready for tonight.

At the shed, I removed the clamps on the boom - and found several largish gaps on the top side of the boom between the second side and the timber. Apparently I did not make sure I had even pressure when I clamped the second side yesterday. The gaps can be filled with epoxy but it is a lesson learned for the next one.



I trimmed away the excess ply from the sides with the pull saw. The block plane worked well to trim the sides down to the timbers. I mixed up a short batch of thickened epoxy and took a few minutes to fill in those gaps. The end caps need to be installed - as is apparent from the photo.

The boom weighed 2.63kg (5.8 pounds) which is much lighter than anyone else has reported. Then I measured the distance from the floor to the top edge of the boom supported on either end by a saw horse. I hung 20 pounds from the mid-point of the boom and measured from the floor to the top edge of the boom. The difference was 2cm. This is less deflection than anyone else is reporting.

I believe this box boom is lighter and stiffer than any of the solid wood spars built to date.

I am quite pleased with these results.

Tonight, I spent time with family and friends and enjoyed the spirit of the Christmas season.