Forestay Tension

[David Webb]

I have just bought a 37 Hunter Legend and the forestay seems loose. It has a Hood roller furler with a continuous furling line. There is nothing visable to adjust the tension.All help is appreciated.Dave

 

[Jack]

Yes there is

Under the drum is a turnbuckle that can be tensioned. TAke a good look at the manual for the furler. The drum can be made to slide up; or it can be removed altogether. You will only need to this infrequently, because once you have got things properly adjusted at the stem, fine tuning the tension can be done with the backstay. By the way I got a good look at this whole setup, becuase I removed the continuous line drum in order to replace it with a standard drum furler. Hood sells a conversion kit. I hated the continuous line drive of the original furler.Good luck.

 

[Don Alexander]

Rig Tension

David,Before altering your forestay you should check if it really is the forestay which is too long. On a still day hang a weight, such as a large wrench, on your main halyard and check if it hangs about 6" aft of the gooseneck. If if does then the mast rake is about right. Try tightening the backstay first as this will have little effect on the rake or, if your boat is B&R rigged (I don't think it is), then tighten the shrouds. The forestay is normally left alone when the mast is down because its length is critical to rake - also it is a pig to adjust. My boat has a collar at the top of the furler spar to stop the sail going too high and this clamped directly onto the wire so I cannot slide the furler up the spar as Jack can do.