I need help with my Harken roller furling rigging to the masthead of my Abbott 22 built by Abbott Boats in Sarnia, Ontario. The rigging is frayed and could have failed. Good thing I do a thorough Spring inspection. Seems the masthead itself is a unique model, requiring special rigging to connect with the Harken forestay/foil. See picture. Can anyone help or advise best way to fix/replace the frayed extension piece ? My pro rigger has never seen this masthead and does not like the extension set up. Any help will be appreciated as I am losing good sail time on Lake Erie.
Abbott 22
- Thread starter Saildog5182
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It looks like the forestay is chafed by the
masthead and there does not appear to be an actual sheave (pulley) for the forestay. The bad news is that if that frayed braided wire is the forestay then you will most certainly want to replace the entire forestay as I do not think that this kind of damage is repairable by any other means. This would entail taking the whole RF apart, putting on a new forestay and rebuilding the RF mechanism on the new stay. I am with you pro-rigger as even if you replace the forestay it will eventually get stressed at the same point and begin to fail again. Using some sort of grease on the braided wire in this area might help extend it's life. IMHO, the only way to fix this and expect it to last any length of time would be to also replace the masthead unit with something more appropriate. Check with your pro-rigger again. Good luck with this.
masthead and there does not appear to be an actual sheave (pulley) for the forestay. The bad news is that if that frayed braided wire is the forestay then you will most certainly want to replace the entire forestay as I do not think that this kind of damage is repairable by any other means. This would entail taking the whole RF apart, putting on a new forestay and rebuilding the RF mechanism on the new stay. I am with you pro-rigger as even if you replace the forestay it will eventually get stressed at the same point and begin to fail again. Using some sort of grease on the braided wire in this area might help extend it's life. IMHO, the only way to fix this and expect it to last any length of time would be to also replace the masthead unit with something more appropriate. Check with your pro-rigger again. Good luck with this.
Abbott Masthead
Abbott is an experienced builder. One has to wonder why the mast head does not have the traditional toggle for the forestay attachment. Your analysis is correct. Thank you. One correction. The frayed wire you see is not the forestay. It is an swaged extension that attaches to a large pin inside the center of the masthead unit, runs out through that opening you noted and then connects by an end toggle to the forestay. Thanks
Abbott is an experienced builder. One has to wonder why the mast head does not have the traditional toggle for the forestay attachment. Your analysis is correct. Thank you. One correction. The frayed wire you see is not the forestay. It is an swaged extension that attaches to a large pin inside the center of the masthead unit, runs out through that opening you noted and then connects by an end toggle to the forestay. Thanks
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