Head stay tension with a roller furler????????

Hayden

May 16, 2003

I just read about using a Loos guage to ensure proper tension on the shrouds. Makes sense. The problem I have is the head stay becasue I have a roller furler (that weights a ton when raising the mast) and it seems the head stay is sloppy . When it gets sloppy it appears thje shrouds are also sloppy. Since I have no back stay I'm hesitant to tighten the head stay very much for fear of pulling the mast over forward. Probably a stupid concern but never the less............It was no prblem onthe last boat that had no furler. I will not give up the furler after having used it.Still learning after all these years.As usual, all comments are welcomed.Hayden

Jim Covey

May 16, 2003

Tensioning shrouds

Hayden,The thing to keep in mind is that the shroud tension and mast rake work together. On the B&R rigs you have to permanently set your mast rack. With this set and the shrouds tensioned properly your forestay should be correct. If there's still excessive sag to the forestay it may need to be shortened a bit. On my H26 I had the forestay turnbuckle almost all the way down and still had too much sag, I've now removed another 1" of the wire and hope this will fix the problem (but I haven't had a chance to check yet due to Oklahoma spring time weather and too much work.Good luck,Jim

Wanderer138

.

May 17, 2003

Take the slack out of the headstay first

Jim makes a good point. It also sounds like your shrouds may be too loose. Since you have no backstay, you have to rely on the upper shrouds to tension the headstay. I'd suggest you loosen the shrouds a bit, then tighten the headstay (this should be easy as the shrouds will be loose) then re-tighten the shrouds. They should be tight enough so the leeward shrouds don't go slack when sailing close-hauled in 15 to 18 kt of wind. That should solve the problem.If the forestay and shrouds are completely tightened and you still have some sag, you will have to get help from a rigger to shorten the forestay AND the shrouds. Otherwise you will upset the rake of the rig.PeterH23 "Raven"