Fore Stay Adjustment (Adjuster?)

GorillaToast · Apr 26, 2012

HI Tom.

I had those shroud adjusters on my last boat, on the shrouds, but not on the forestay. I'm not familiar with the rigging on your model boat, but my guess would be you've got it on upside down. What sort of termination is there on the wire at the bow? If it's a thimble and 2 nicopress clamps, I'd say that end goes to the masthead.

Joe · Apr 26, 2012

It's upside down. The adjuster connects the stem fitting to the headstay. The adjuster allows you to set the mast rake, as daily conditions warrant.

There is normally at least a foot between the sail's tack cringle and the next hank. When you rig the sail the tack will be shackled to the boat's stem fitting, then hank the sail on to the wire. Do not put a hank on the sail's tack.... rather fix a shackle to the boat's stem piece.

bria46 · Apr 27, 2012

Joe is correct. Your adjuster should be at the bottom of the forestay. Just like the turnbuckles are at the bottom of your side stays and back stay.

Crazy Dave Condon · Apr 27, 2012

The only problem with a shroud adjuster on the forestay should it ever come loose particularly in heavy air could be disastrous. That happenned to one customer against advice and he lost the mast. FYI.

Crazy dave condon

GorillaToast · Apr 27, 2012

Crazy Dave Condon said:
The only problem with a shroud adjuster on the forestay should it ever come loose particularly in heavy air could be disastrous. That happenned to one customer against advice and he lost the mast. FYI.

Crazy dave condon

While you've got it off to turn it around, I would get a rigger to install a turnbuckle and toggles to replace the adjuster. That's the standard set-up on most boats. It would allow much more flexibility, and wouldn't require unhooking the stay every time you want to make an adjustment.

If the one on the left is what you've got, then I would have it replaced with the turnbuckle on the right.

kenn · Apr 27, 2012

I agree with Joe, except that mast rake is not a "daily" adjustment thing, for me anyway.

Our boat doesn't have a backstay, just a forestay and two sidestays set back a bit. The forestay has a perforated adjuster (at the bottom!), the sidestays have turnbuckles. At the beginning of every season, I raise the mast and tune the stays so that the mast position and stay tension is proper, then I lock the turnbuckles, tape up the bowstay adjuster, and I don't touch those again unless there's a tuning issue. This avoids the problem Dave mentions above.

When raising the mast, I connect the sidestays, and I can use the jib halyard to pull the mast forward enough to connect the forestay to the bottom.

kloudie1 · Apr 27, 2012

Wouldn't bother with replacing with a turnbuckle.. The adjuster sets the rake and the backstay turnbuckle (or tensioner) sets the tension. t will be fine .. but it the adjuster does go on the stem fitting. . Heed Dave's words about securing the pins properly.. Heed Joe's advice on the sail tack.. Enjoy the sail this summer !

Joe11688 · Apr 27, 2012

Tom Hoffman said:
Over winter as I have been house bound, I have been thinking about boat related things that I might want to do to my boat this spring as I dig her out of winter storage. Can't climb the ladder to get in her yet because of winter surgery. So I sit here and think of ways to improve.

While mulling on these topics, I remembered that my fore stay has a SS thingy in it that is a series of holes and a couple of bolts that look like you can make adjustments to the length of the fore stay, problem is that this thingy is on the upper end of the stay about 2' down from the mast head.

I have been running a shorter jib (almost a storm jib) which was the only jib that came with my boat when I bought her. So when I hank on the jib and the base is attached down to the bow, it does not rise high enough to contact this thingy and so I have never had occasion to wonder about it.

When I first rigged the boat, the gentleman who helped me (has 30+ years of sailing experience) hooked the fore stay to the mast head pin and never mentioned this thingy.

What has prompted all this heavy thinking is that I have recently purchased new bronze sail hanks to put on some extra sails that I have one of which is a somewhat larger Genoa.

As a result of wanting to fly this Genoa, I remembered this piece of hardware on the stay and wondered if it would be in the way when I hoist the sail.

Is it possible that I have my fore stay is upside down? Seems silly to have an adjuster some 25 or 26 feet off the deck and not very accessible to adjustment should the need arise.

Just an idle musing from a currently land bound sailor.

Any thoughts, please???

Tom...

Tom,
What I would do is eliminate that adjuster all together on the fore stay.
If you can loosen the turnbuckle on your back stay enough to be able to throw enough slack into your fore stay and remove it, you would be better off installing an adjuster on your backstay. Of course, you would need to attach your Jib halyard to the bow stem chain plate, tighten up on the halyard and cleat it off at the mast to be able to find out if you can get enough slack into your forestay to remove it. It would be like an experiment.
I was able to do this on my boat years ago when I talked to the owner of
Rig-Rite back then about it. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about what was needed in order to make it work for me. He sold me a used Johnson Handy-Lock and mounted it on my back stay for me.

My backstay had a triangular plate with three holes in it and my mainsheet was attached to this plate and the other end of the mainsheet hooked on to the end of my boom. I had bought a traveler and mounted it near my companionway and also moved the eye strap under the boom.
Now I had no need for that triangular plate. I told him that I trailered a lot so he talked me into the Handy-Lock. Because of the fact that my back stay fits through a hole in the mast head extrusion and my Handy-Lock has two nuts which are glued to the threaded bolts, he mounted my open turnbuckle a little higher on the backstay and mounted the Handy-Lock right under it. This way I could just unscrew the top bolt of my turn buckle and be able to remove my backstay from the hole in the masthead without having remove a nut on my Handy-Lock and have to apply thread lock cement each time I wanted to put it back and have it work. The Handy-Lock has a lever that you can turn and when you fold it in, it locks over the two nuts on the adjustment bolts. This is what locks it in place.

I think that Johnson makes a cheaper Handy-Lock that doesn't have bolts and nuts. It's probably the same as your adjuster on your fore stay. If you can use your adjuster on your back stay, plus the turnbuckle for fine tuning the back stay mounted above it, I think it could work for you. Not only that, but it would be a heck of a lot faster than what I'm using.

Now, all I have to do when I take my mast down is set up my Gin Pole remove my front mast tab pin, loosen the Handy-Lock, and remove my CDI Roller Furler with by pulling the press button quick pin. That's it. I never need to touch my side stay turnbuckles at all. It's all done with the Handy-Lock. To me, this is truly the way to go for the trailer-sailor.

Handy-Locks are pricey but there are other alternatives that you could go to to achieve the same results. You could use that adjuster for your backstay and move your turnbuckle up. This could give you some fine tuning on your backstay and the adjuster could throw the needed slack for the forestay removal.

You could also set up an adjustable backstay with a sheave block and do away with the turnbuckle on the backstay altogether.

It's just something to think about.

kenn · Apr 27, 2012

Tom Hoffman said:
The adjuster that I spoke of is on the top within a foot or two of the mast head.

... is it not at one end of the forestay? in other words, is there a short length of wire stay from the adjuster to the mast?

If that's the case, maybe there was once a roller-furling foresail that connected to the adjuster, which someone just replaced with some more wire when they ditched or sold the furler...?

Maybe what you need is simply a new, full-length forestay...

alexco38 · Apr 27, 2012

I wouldn't use those quick release pin on the forestay. I've seen it came out. The ball is too small and will slide out of the holes. Just remember the forestay doesn't stay put when sailing. It swing around and will work the pin loose. They are dangerous.

Joe · Apr 27, 2012

If there is a turnbuckle on the headstay already, leave it and simply buy another headstay. The whole point of the pin/adjuster is to make it easier to rig trailerable boats, so if you already have a turnbuckle you don't need an adjuster. I have no idea why someone would have both, unless they were trying to save money by not purchasing a proper stay.

I used a "quick pin" on my headstay adjuster, mainly because I could attach a lanyard to the ring that kept the pin from getting lost.... It was very convenient... I was a bit nervous at first, but after I saw that it was secure I was okay with it. On the shroud adjusters (no backstay on a beach cat) I used the cotter rings on standard clevis pins. The reason is that I left them attached... I only adjusted the shrouds if I wanted to change the mast rake... the headstay, however, was disengaged everytime I went sailing.

That said......... if you are still unsure with the quickpin....... try some of the other solutions in this link: http://www.suncorstainless.com/quick-lock-pin (well, maybe not the trailer pin, heh, heh)..... the deal is to have the pin tethered to the adjuster so it is handy, ready to apply, and won't get lost.

Tom..... as far as sources.... you can purchase the pins from just about any chandlery... the key is the fit... for that reason I would measure the hole if going online, it going local you can always exchange the pin for one that fits.

kloudie1 · Apr 27, 2012

soooo back to square 1, Tom.. will the jib/genoa actually foul the adjuster at the top of the headstay? If not, then ya won't have to do anything at all except rig it up and launch and enjoy.. You can lay out the sail and measure the luff then measure the headstay and figure if ya have enough lift to tension the sail.. If the sail is close but a smidge too long, you can have a new (slightly higher) tack installed (without removing the old) for not many dollars and address the headstay issue at your leisure.. then the sail will still work with the different headstay if that is necessary.

Joe11688 · Apr 28, 2012

alexco38 said:
I wouldn't use those quick release pin on the forestay. I've seen it came out. The ball is too small and will slide out of the holes. Just remember the forestay doesn't stay put when sailing. It swing around and will work the pin loose. They are dangerous.

I wouldn't use a fast pin either. I don't trust them. What I have been using is a press button Quick Pin on my forestay and it stays put.

Fore Stay Adjustment (Adjuster?)

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