Homemade forestay tensioner and furler

[Rowlando]

I am working on a furler and am waiting for parts (new forestay, blocks, fairleads etc.) so I came up with an idea for a simple forestay tensioner (which I may or may not need). The anchor roller is also the forestay connection point so it gives me lots of options to work with. The toggle (?) eliminates the need for an extra pin and as shown once the lever is pinned it is locked in and can’t come loose. The reason for the extra toggle keyhole is to allow me to change it from one side to the other.
I will give it a test run once my my parts arrive but it seems really easy to use so far.

 

[JimInPB]

That's a cute way of doing it. I like it.

 

[SG]

Usually the roller is designed to pull the anchor up; and the stress isn't as great as the backstay/forestay?

 

[Rowlando]

SG you are right. I have a huge backing plate embedded under the bow roller and a strap that runs from one of the bow roller bolts to the bow/trailer eye which has also been reinforced with several layers of glass and composite material. The factory bow eye had rotten wood encased in the glass. The original Macgregor chain plate, while adequate, was much weaker than this setup.

 

[Sumner]

Nice work!!

Do you have a loos gauge? It would be interesting to see what tension you have on the forestay after pinning it like that. We have a Johnson lever and have it set so we have about 300# with it snapped shut. This is with a 5/32" forestay.

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/rigging-17.html

I made something similar but have never used it. Our furler is attached to the original chain plate and goes up the mast a little higher than the stock one. I still have the original forestay attached up the mast below the present furler and tied to the bottom of the mast. I can pin it to the connector in the middle of the two anchor rollers (top, center arrow). The bar (bottom arrow) can be attached temporarily for leverage to pin it. We carry the original hank-on head sails with us and they could be used if needed. I always wanted to put the hank-on genoa on the inner forestay and run with it on one side of the boat with a whisker pole and the genoa on the furler on the other side, but have never done it ,

Sumner
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1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas

 

[Rowlando]

Hi Sumner, your site is my default go-to for sanity before I try something stupid! Doesn’t always work.....I can still manage to get to “what was I thinking?”.
No loos gauge, I probably should get one and check if I’m close to the right parameters. I’m waiting for a new forestay which will be 3/16....overkill but all that I can get locally. The original stay was quite short with a piece of Home Depot galvanized chain making up the difference. My boat came with 100% and a 150% headsail.....I will try the larger one on the furler and see how it goes. I remember reading somewhere that’s what you went with initially.
We are generally fair weather day sailors on local fresh water lakes with limited experience but learning. I enjoy tinkering with the boat almost as much as sailing.
I like the versatility and redundancy of your anchor roller setup......well thought out.