headsail stay tension

[sailormark45]

Hi folks.. Had my boat now for 6 months (new to me) have really been enjoying it a lot. Teaching wife to sail is fun too. I have a 2 part question here. I have a lot of slack in my foresaty. I have a (profurl) jib system. We have been caught in 2 'big blows" in 6 months. Jib has taken a whippin or 2 hahaha. My roller furling does not furl the sail all the way in now. I still have 2-3 wraps of jib left and no more furling line and I have to wrap jib manually.. NADA end on line on pulley. I have discovered my jib halyard has done a 180 wrap around my forestay up topside of mast. 1st question is: how do I undo the wrap on stay??? 2nd question: My hunter has a raked mast to aft. Backstay and forestay are very loose. When I say loose,, If I grab and shake the forestay above my head as far as I can reach, the play is maybe 8-10 " inches, Way too much I know. How tight do I need the forestay??
Thanx in advance

 

[Alan]

Lets start with your boat. Which model Hunter do you have?
Do you have access to a professional rigger or do you do your own tuning? Forget the boat yard they simply put the stick up and maybe get it straight. Tuning is something else entirely.

 

[sailormark45]

1990 hunter 28 No riggers nearer than 100 miles.

 

[sailormark45]

also my furler is a profurl 290 The turnbuckle is accesable below furler

 

[Alan]

OK, first you need to understand that the turnbuckle on the headstay is not used to tension anything. It is there to adjust mast rake, period. Mast rake can be set at anything between 1 and 2 % of mast height from the goose neck. The 26 mast height is 37.5' so your mast rake should be between 4.5 and 9 inches. I suggest starting out at 4.5 inches.
Tension in the headstay is set with the cap shrouds. Use a Loos gauge or other device to set the proper shroud tension. Setting the tension at 15 to 20% of safe working load will probably give the best results.
To remove the halyard wrap, unfurl the sail and drop it on deck. Check the upper swivel for the wrap stopper. ProFurl uses a really good wrap stop cap at the top of the extrusion. Also the halyard needs to be reasonably tight before furling to prevent a wrap.

 

[RichH]

Go to http://www.anything-sailing.com/showthread.php?t=101&highlight=tuning

.... skip the lateral/longitudinal adjustment stuff (you can do that later if you prefer)... and go to the **Rig Tension** section. Note that this method advises to use a 'riggers tension gage' but ALSO how to use a METER STICK to gain the nominal 15% of tension. You adjust tension in the forestay by adjusting the ***BACKSTAY*** tension.

Also, you can ignore 'mast bend / preload' ... use this when you start 'racing'.

The turnbuckle on the forestay is to adjust mast rake: the angle that the mast 'leans' aft. To tension the forestay, you adjust the backstay.

 

[tsmwebb]

...My roller furling does not furl the sail all the way in now. I still have 2-3 wraps of jib left and no more furling line and I have to wrap jib manually..

When you have your jib down (to un-wrap the halyard) you can rotate the furler to get a few more turns of line onto the drum. That will give you a few more turns when you furl the jib. Be careful that the line goes on levelly and without gaps. It is possible to get a nasty jam if you roll the line on sloppily.

--Tom.

 

[Ron20324]

Otherwise, when the sail is furled as much as it will go, undo the knot on the roller line, roll another five (or ?) turns around the drum, re-knot, pull and see if that furls completetly.

 

[sailormark45]

Thanx guys That is what I needed to know. As far as my mast pre bend goes. Hunters at least the ones here in my marina ..all have a mast pre bend. It seems like my mast has a lot of pre bend. So by tightening the back stay ,, will my mast pre bend go even furthur aft??