Adjustable Back Stay? *o

[Randy Kolb]

I have decided to replace the standing rigging on my 1986 C22. I believe the rigging is the original equipment and it seems wise to replace it. I am going to use the CD standard rigging kit. Right now the boat has an adjustable back stay but in our three years of sailing we have not used it. We mainly cruise about in a lake, don't race, and our goal is to be able to sail in the Puget Sound in a year or two. The adjustable back stay is $135 more than the regular non-adjustable one. I'm leaning to the less expensive one but would appreciate advice about the issue. Thanks.Randy KolbNauti Duck

 

[Bayard Gross]

Spend the money

I believe you have a backstay adjuster that is two wires brought closer together to tighten and vice versa to loosen. This is activated my pulling or releasing sheaves held in a metal plate along the wires.While this system is common and works well, I think the twelve to one purchase of the Catalina Direct system which uses line in blocks, is superior.I have one of the Catalina Direct backstay adjusters on my C-22 and I find it works well and I think better than your current system.Since you already have provision for the split backstay, it should be very easy to install the Catalina Direct adjustable backstay.The adjustable backstay on a C-22 is an important piece of equipment for quickly adjusting sail shape in both the main and jib at the same time.My guess is that you will like the Catalina Direct adjustable backstay so much that you will begin to experiment with it and discover the ways it improves your sailing performance.

 

[Brad]

Unless you race.....

save your money.If you haven't seen the need to use the adjustable back stay that you have, what would get you to start using the new one? Sounds like you are doing fine w/o. See line 1 above (save your money).Good Sailing,Brad on the Willy T