h26 stay placement

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john withrow

Took the mast off the boat last fall. When putting the side stays on the thing on the deck which one goes in fron and in back?
 
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Michael

Uppers?

Tom and others, I'm just putting mine on now -- new mast and rigging -- and I have the same question. Having the uppers forward seems a little odd, though, because they run through the spreaders. It would seem to make sense that they would be on theback. Otherwise the would crisscross the lowers. Anyone know for sure?? Michael
 
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Tom Wootton

Picture on manual cover shows...

...uppers forward. This is for the H26; the 260 may be different.
 
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Rick Webb

I've Been Wondering

My 23.5 manual also covers the 19 and 26. The pictures of the 23.5 are the only ones that are not crossed. When I bought the boat they were crossed and when I had the mast off to do some maintanence I could not figure out which way to do it so I looked in the manual. I was pretty concerned when they did not fit correctly at first. I adjusted them and I figured that they were so close together it did not matter much.
 
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Tim Paul

Definitely They Should Cross

After sailing for two years with the uppers and lowers running parallel to each other, I took a close look at the manual diagrams (with magnifying glass!) and realized I had it wrong. I verified this with Greg at Hunter. The lowers should attach to the aft u-bolt; uppers to the fore u-bolt, thus crossing over. The small change helped to tighten the forestay tension which had been a problem for me. These comments pertain to a '97 h26, but I believe the rigging on newer models is basically the same.
 
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Rick E.

Check the Archives

We've had this discussion before & the concensus strongly favoured crossing the shrouds. I followed this advice last year & seemed to have better luck, as already mentioned, with forestay tension. It also seemed to produce a better balance between the lower and cap shrouds. I keep approx. 500 lbs on the former & 600 on the latter. These numbers keep the mast relatively straight in light & heavy conditions. This is where the heavier wires on the Hunter 26 really seem to make a nice difference. By the way, when we were out last weekend, I had better luck in heavy wind gusts by adjusting the traveller instead of the mainsheet. Last year we installed a small traveller at the base of the hatch. By keeping the mailsail taut, and dropping the traveller during the gusts, we could avoid some of the extreme weather helm that seems to occur if the mainsheet is released & the sail twists out of shape. I think the same result (or close to it) might be achieved by really tightening up the vang during the gusts. I bought another block & tackle for the base of my vang so that the cleat opens upward instead of downward. That way, I could release it on the fly from the cockpit. I also added a heavy shackle below the bottom tackle. When sailing on a broad reach, I can then move the vang and use it as a preventer from the foot of the stantions. has anyone else had any luck with this arrangement? Rick
 
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