i totally forgot to add some good news about my boom… The biggest boat on our dock has all her spars out for fairing and painting, and the painting sub-contractor mentioned that he’d be happy to fit my (comparatively small) spars in for free! “There’s always paint enough left over on these big jobs.”, he says… Well, i couldn’t get my mast out and faired in time, but now my boom looks great with two fresh coats of Awlgrip paint!