boom height adjuster

I'm building a boom height adjuster and wanted a little input from those who have them.
I can't seem to find a picture of the one i'm looking to copy, I will post a picture once i get a chance.
i am planning on spacing the holes about 2" on center. is this too close of an adjustment or not tight enough?

I have seen this style but i feel like it will move around a lot making it harder to move it.


The style i am looking to copy is a sandwich style but shaped like an L
Is there any reason i cannot find this style sold anywhere? were they faulty? I seem to only be able to find the one i pictured and a buddy boom that goes next to the original pylon allowing easier adjustment with the single boom mount.

The above adjuster (pictured) works well with straight booms and will be a struggle with a contoured boom due to the center of gravity shift.
I find it is often easier to set the clamp on the pylon and then adjust the height with cushions or passengers within the boat.

Sounds like you want to make your own L-shape clamp and not a standalone height adjuster, right Tony? Not sure if you saw mine:



Casad and Hydronetics each made ones like this (casad were black, hydro white) and look identical until you put one on top of the other (slight variations but they function the same). We have a few of each on various boats... But neither is making them anymore (both companies may be long gone?). I also have a bi clamp+ adjuster on my '90 and it works well when pinched as HW described (no rattles).

I love having height adjustability built in. Breaking out the 3/4" wrench every time you change boom height sucks big time. You'll want to get the boom on your BFN pretty much level, with slight adjustability up and down. The v-hull rides so high in the water that a flat boom is quite high. Ski nautiques usually have booms angled up quite a bit more in order to achieve the same height- flat boom on these boats is as low as you ever need to go. I've angled the boom down on the bfn many times to get it low enough for smaller folks and certain tricks. Front deeps and toe holds are much harder with a high boom.

yes i did notice your setup Tim, thats kind of what i am going for. except i dont want to mount the pylon on the secondary pole.
See, when i have the BI extended pylon on top of the factory one. in order to get the boom "flush" as you say I would have to take the extended pylon off to get the clamp high enough on the factory pylon because of the way i am running the boom. I don't believe my boom was originally intended to be used with this BFN because it is a contoured boom. But i have it and i'm going to use it. So I've been running it backwards and it brings the boom forward of the factory pylon and gets you further ahead of that chine spray. it lands right where the rail gets thicker on the 88. (see picture)


SO the reason i am doing this is because right now i cannot get my boom flush or lower as you stated so something like your L shaped bracket would do just the trick i think.
So i will cut my holes 1.5" on center and see what that gets me

Correct, no need for a SDBM on a pylon that doesn't have a ring and finger. I am able to run both my fly high and bi boom mount (with adjuster, boom is straight) on my '90 Sn concurrently with adequate adjustment. It's a little trickier to do on a bfn because the clamp needs to be mounted higher. The lower mounting contour boom will help you here (it needs a lower clamp than a straight boom, obviously). Depending on the type of extended pylon you have, it may also be worthwhile to consider moving the clamp up a bit and allowing the ext pylon to sit on the clamp, rather than bottom out via the pin/bolt on top of the regular pylon. The SDBM is not long enough to allow my fly high to bottom out on the bolt so it sits on the clamp- no issues with this. Just don't move the clamp once you have everything set up, as a height change might require a ext pylon cable re-adjustment.

4 positions- it can go out the driver's side as well. Universal countour goes up/down, fore/aft. Quad contour does too but more extreme fore/aft I believe (meant for rear pylons on v-drives). Single contour only goes up/down- no fore/aft curve.

Not sure what HW is getting at with the quad vs deluxe contours. Is up/down curve amount different between the 2? If not, clamp height shouldn't be different between them. Having the curve go forward like you have it is smart.

copy that haha. I tend to over think things from time to time. I got some stock and plan to ad a 12" extension onto the factory mount. and yes my boom only has two flats on it.

the picture i posted is with the clamp about 2 inches above where the extended pylon would be when resting at its lowest point possible. In other words the extended pylon is resting on the clamp. so you can see its just not high enough to get the boom flush.

Hollywood wrote: You're out of touch Tim. My terms were just fine. BI themselves muddied the water with unnecessary terms. Deluxe Straight Deluxe Universal Contour (single contour up/down) Deluxe Quad Contour (up/down & fore/aft) Quad V-Drive

Nope, still wrong LOL. I did consult with the BI site before correcting you (us).

B200 Straight Boom
B201 Straight/single contour (up/down only)
B202 Universal Contour (8" fore/aft)
B204 Quad Contour (>8" fore/aft)
B204V Quad V-drive (looks like the only difference to the B204 is the clamp).

http://www.barefootinternational.com/BOOMS.bifh

Moot point since we both know Tony has a Universal Contour.

Just to further muddy the waters, but to hopefully solicit additional clarifying information. Is there different terminology for the boat end of the boom, whether it has 1 hole or 2 at 90*. Tony said his only had two flats, but I know there are also booms with 4 flats and two holes. (I thought that was the difference between a quad and a universal, but I see I was wrong) I remember Brad had one with 2 flats and he had it machined down to four flats and two holes to allow up/down/ fore/aft mounting.

I've seen plenty of universal contours with just 2 flats- so they were probably purchase with a port vs stbd install specified. Brads needed machining to go forward on port. Tonys would not go aft on port without the same mod. So not all universal contours got the square boss (though you could argue that they should have).

Following up just a few years later…

Tony, I assume the clamp worked out? I know a few people looking if you wanted to make a couple more that were similar.

Can’t you use one of these https://www.barefootinternational.com/product/booms-height-adjuster

Gotcha
I assumed that you would of already had the clamp as that’s how tony did his.