Angle of forestay

Sep 8, 2014
2,551
Catalina 22 Swing Keel San Diego
Does anyone know what the angle of the forestay is relative to the mast? I'm trying to place a piece of hardware on the mast and it would be helpful to know this...
 
Sep 14, 2014
1,251
Catalina 22 Pensacola, Florida
Depends on the rake or you could do it from the specs on file at catalina 22 site.
 

greg_m

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May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
I just happened to be considering similar issues regarding the fore stay and used what I hope is a relatively scale drawing from the manual.

See attached and definitely open to corrections if anyone has precise measurements.
 

Attachments

Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
A little trig says 17.2 degrees. Assuming no mast rake.
 

AaronD

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Aug 10, 2014
723
Catalina 22 9874 Newberg, OR / Olympia, WA
Expanding on JD's comment. When I measured mine for a new headsail, I got:
--Headstay length: 27.1'
--J: 7.7' (spec from sailboatdata is 8')
--Hoist from cabin top: 25.0'

It would be hard to get an accurate measurement of the cabin top height above the stem fitting, so it's probably more accurate to use J (opposite side) and headstay length (hypotenuse)

arcsin(7.7/27.1) = 16.5 degrees (in Excel: "=DEGREES(ASIN(<J cell>/<Headstay cell>))"). Changing those input measurements doesn't change the output much (8.0 and 26.9 yields 17.3 degrees). Call it ~17 degrees and you should be pretty close.
 
Sep 8, 2014
2,551
Catalina 22 Swing Keel San Diego
207.jpg
Thanks for the replies everyone... I think if I shoot for 17 degrees I'll be in the ball park.
The reason I'm doing this is for a 'standoff' for my hoistable swivel. It has a steel tang that hangs off the forestay and its about 3.5 to 4 inches long. I'm going to put a Harken exit block near the top of the mast for the Jib Halyard. This frees up my fwd mast head block to use later for the spin halyard. The trick with placing the exit block is to have the swivel ride parallel to the forestay but exactly below it by the length of the tang. I don't really trust my own math, LOL... So I want mock it up on the ground before I got at my mast with a drill bit and die grinder to cut the slot.
 
Sep 8, 2014
2,551
Catalina 22 Swing Keel San Diego
Z3780_S01.jpg
Since I don't even have a spin yet, I could also just use this retainer set down a little below the mast head and utilize my fwd masthead sheave as normal. The exit block could wait and be installed later if I ever actually get a spin.
 
Nov 19, 2008
2,129
Catalina C-22 MK-II Parrish, FL
I went a different route with my Harken furler set-up. I could never get the luff of the jib tight enough so the boat wouldn't point worth a crap, and I got fed-up with the head of the jib wrapping around the forestay, so I removed the forestay. The Harken has a SWL of I believe 2,500Lbs, so it's stronger than the 1/8" forestay. As shown in the photo, the Johnson Quick Lever attaches to the stem fitting and the bottom of the furling drum. The top of the furling drum attaches to the luff wire at the tack. I removed the tang on the top swivel and it simply attaches to the luff wire at the head, and to a lanyard I fabricated to make up the difference to the masthead. For UV protection I hoist a zippered sock so I don't have to ruin my jib's performance with the heavy UV shield on the foot and the leech. So much easier and so easy to furl the jib now, and the boat points GREAT again, and no math required!

Don
HARKEN FURLER 203.jpg
The Johnson Quick Lever makes easy rigging and once the lever is pulled, the luff wire nice and tight and the boat can point again

HARKEN FURLER 204.jpg

The zippered jib sock is hoisted by the jib halyard. The jib isn't robbed of light air performance with the heavy UV shield, and best of all, being lighter, rigging is about as simple as it is with just a forestay.

IMG_4025.JPG


Nice to be able to point again! Photo taken on Northern Lake Michigan during the C-22 Great Lakes Cruise.
 
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