Crazy? Mast, rigging for H26

[rgranger]

First, you need to provide pictures of both shroud chain plates and forestay chainplate to make sure they are not pulled out. Photo of the base the mast sits upon too.

The chainplates are positioned in the area by experienced sailboat engineers who had years of designing rigs. To change position would wold be a big mistake. A good example is the mainsail as it was designed to be bigger than a standard for more power

Deal with Dave in sales at U S Spars as I trust him and he has been around and knows the hunter water ballast boats.

Sailboat/ Hunter Owners has the build list of parts for your boat. They can order OEM RIGGING from the folks who originally made it.
You need to check the thickness of a mast and loads it is designed for to see if another brand will work. Then you have to make sure parts, rigging, etc. will fit and attached in the right position

as for the boat if planning for insurance, you may be required to have an inspection. If purchasing a boat, I would want to know what else is missing for example the mast raising system. I would be very careful
until you know the history of the boat as there is no boatfax info out there

you want to replace the mast and rigging possibly with other equipment; however I would urge caution on your part in the way you are going about this.

I sold 20-25% of the Hunter 26 production and was involved in the design

 

[Sethic]

Thank you Dave!
I have not moved the chain plates. The oday stays we’re short, thankfully, so I’ve added additional turnbuckles to upper shroud/forestay and some chain to lower shroud.
My SA/disp is 14.25. I understand <15 is underpowered and am ok with this. My chief concern is the difference in ratio of SA between fore and main between the two sail plans, leeward moment and potential for capsizing. I’m not going to use the jenny because of this.
I believe mast is designed for the load consistent with the size of the sails. I have removed the h26 tabernacle and replaced with the oday tabernacle, which required drilling new holes in the latter to match the tapped holes in the h26.
I have repositioned the spreaders to match the angle of the tabernacle/chainplates on the hull. It looks like I’m still forward a couple of degrees. I’m considering moving the spreaders further back still to correct this as it’s critical to the h26 design without a backstay.
there are mounting points on either side of the cockpit which appear to be reinforced to the same degree as the chainplates. If I want to be extra conservative with the standing rigging I could instead add two back stays, one on each side at these.

 

[Sethic]

Difficult to see here but I’ve tried to capture the angle of the spreaders. I assume it should be a straight line from chainplate to spreader tip to mast top. Shroud deviates after spreader meaning the angle is off.

 

[Sethic]

Better photo oriented in line with chainplate and mast top.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I cautioned him on performance and resale value not to mention safety. The backstay was a concern. I asked if he had stern rail seats and the response was yes. The life lines now attach to the stern rail seats leaving the ubolts free which the original lifelines were attached to. Suggested using an inverted V of cables way above the cockpit attachhed to the ubolts. Suggested using larger backing plates.

 

[Davidasailor26]

I don’t love the chain being used to extend the shroud. It looks like just hardware store chrome plated steel? If so it won’t last too long. Even if it’s stainless I’d be curious about its safe working load relative to the shrouds.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

@Davidasailor26

I made him aware there is no resale value if he proceeded plus there is the safety issue to cover myself. It is his boat and his Money. He has a family issue for their safety should he proceed with his family to save a buck. I am concerned. Personally I would never recommend this nor would go sailing with him on that set up

 

[Davidasailor26]

Difficult to see here but I’ve tried to capture the angle of the spreaders. I assume it should be a straight line from chainplate to spreader tip to mast top. Shroud deviates after spreader meaning the angle is off.

Yes, that won’t work as-is. When the rig loads up it will try to pull the shroud into a straight line, torquing the spreader and probably compromising the spreader or bracket. I also don’t especially like the look of the bolts holding the spreader bracket. Are those screws tapped or self-tapping? That’s a pretty critical junction and it looks like there won’t be too much meat left on the mast, especially if the brackets need to be moved again.

On the one hand I applaud the attempt at ingenuity, but I think I’m with Crazy Dave that it will be hard to safely redesign the rig and take into account all of the forces it handles. I don’t know what will happen when mainsheet tension, halyards, outhaul, vang, etc are all added to the mix, but if a guy named Crazy Dave says it’s too crazy I’d probably listen.