"John Cairns" wrote in message
m...
| Slow down, Mooron. I was merely verifying what Doug mentioned, I assuming
| that's what he was referring to, the ability of a rigid vang to support
the
| weight of an individual standing on the boom.

No John.. I believe Doug's premise is that a properly engineered vang can
equal the capacity of a topping lift... that I dispute.

I wasn't necessarily referring
| to you when I talked about "improvements in sailing technology" Of course
| the boom end is supported better by a topping lift on the end than it is
by
| a rigid vang mounted a quarter of a way along it's length.

Excellent ... then we are in agreement


But a rigid still
| offers enough support to hoist someone out of the water with the end of
the
| boom, or lift an auxiliary out of the engine compartment.

Allow me to put to you 2 separate scenarios... a rigid vang on a 20 footer
and a rigid vang on a 50 footer. Now... on the 20 footer it's obvious the
weight of a man on the end of the boom would tax the rigid vang.... but not
the topping lift. The weight of a man on the end of a boom on the 50 foot
boat would not tax the vang.... nuff said.


Not that I never
| question the merits of "technology improvements", I like to think I try to
| keep a fair amount of skepticism when I see words like"new and improved",
| but I don't reflexively assume that improvements aren't just that. In any
| event, I wouldn't think that capacity is an issue when debating the merits
| rigid boom vangs.

Not unless you decide to compare mechanical capacities between the vang and
the topping lift


One last point, if you retrofit a rigid vang to you boat
| you still have a topping lift to use for things like hoisting someone to
the
| masthead, or hoisting an auxiliary out of your engine compartment, etc.
BTW,
| I'm not rushing out to buy a rigid vang for my boat, it's fairly low on my
| list of future boat improvements.

Yes.... I concur ... but the discussion was regarding the capacity of the
vang compared to the topping lift. Both have their functions... and for
hoisting the topping lift has the advantage by a large margin.

CM