How Do You Rig a Temporary Forestay?

[David]

Can anyone provide instructions for Safely rigging a temporary forestay. I am having problems with the Hood roller furler on my H 33.5. I have to disconnect the forestay to remove the furler to have it rebuilt. This will require installing a temporary stay. I would appreciate advice from someone who has done this. Also, any insight into potential problems that may occur would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Dick Litchfield]

How safe???

I'm not sure how safe the practice is, but at my local yard the forestay on larger sailboats (>25ft) has to be loosened, disconected where it attaches at the bow and then moved toward the stern and temporarily tied to the first stanchion in order to lift the boat. Prior to doing this the jib halyard(s) is/are attached to the area where the forestay normally goes and tensioned up serving as a temporary forestay.

 

[John]

Additionally.....

Other things you can do are (1) to reduce the tension on the backstay, (2) attach the spinnaker halyard to the bow and apply tension. If you're going up the mast the main halyard is not available otherwise you could use it.Before loosening the stays it's a good idea to mark the turnbuckle positions with masking tape on the T-bolts/turnbuckle bolts.When you put the furler back on be sure to put the cotter pins in! There has been more than one case where this step was forgotten with resulting disasterous results.Good luck in your project.

 

[John]

Loosen Mainsheet

To take the load off the jib halyard or other lines to the bow the mainsheet shoukd be loosened too.

 

[Allan Hadad]

Temporary Forestay

I had to do the same thing a number of years ago on my H34. Being paranoid, I ran the jib halyard to the toe rail at the bow, wrapped the main halyard around the mast to the toe rail just opposite where the jib halyard was attached and fastened the topping lift for my whisker pole somewhere near there too. Ease the main sheet and vang and tension all the temporary lines up tight. Just for overkill, I also tossed a line over the lower spreaders from the front then around the back of the mast and back through forward again. I tied the two ends to the toe rail with a trucker's hitch. Just don't drop any parts into the water or you'll have to go sailing that way.Allan