In Part 1 Kurt explained the fundamental forces acting on preventers and why we must get the angles right.
In this chapter he shares:
- A simple method to calculate the loads on our own boats, including a spreadsheet.
- A table of examples using well-known boat designs that we can sanity check our results against.
- Detailed preventer construction recommendations.
Simplified Model
My computer model addresses the various complexities, including dynamic loads due to momentum and boom swing due to preventer stretch, which allowed me to make a more complete evaluation of the loads over the full range of motion to determine both the peak and final preventer tension.
While this detailed analysis is insightful, it is probably unnecessary for basic preventer design on a typical boat.
The following simplified methodology, using the equation at the top of the chapter, provides skippers with a tool to evaluate a particular boat’s final preventer tension so that all the components can be sized accordingly.
To make this even easier, we have provided a spreadsheet that does all the required calculations based on a few simple inputs.