Hunter 28.5 backstay adjustment

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Jun 16, 2011
173
Catalina 350 Rock hall
With a br rig doesn't changing backstay tension ie increasing to tighten forestay loosen all of the rest of the standing rigging as I look at it it seems if I increase backstay I would have to retune the whole rig what am I missing??
 
Dec 1, 1999
2,391
Hunter 28.5 Chesapeake Bay
While I don't have a backstay tension adjuster (other than the turnbuckles, that is), some racers that do have such devices and use them during races and such don't seem to have any issues with loosening their shrouds at these times. Yet if I needed to increase tension on my forestay I'd do it by tightening the forestay turnbuckle. In any event, be careful how you may impact mast prebend. See:

http://www.huntertwentyeightfive.com/files/285_Manual.pdf
 
Jun 16, 2011
173
Catalina 350 Rock hall
That is what I was thinking with the br rig it would seem changing anything changes everything
As a side note warren I have the original hood furler and I read somewhere that it is just a furler and not a reefing furler is this true? I use it as a reefing furler and have only had it slip a little one time,
 
Dec 2, 2003
1,637
Hunter 376 Warsash, England --
Having set up the rig with the necessary forestay tension, why would you want to slacken it?
I know that Stars and some IOR type boats with badly balanced rigs resulting from their measurement system like to allow their masts to go forward when running but I always found any gains were largely illusory - though our Olympic Star had a rig we hung very far forwards and I once made a measuring system for an IOR boat where we moved the masthead forwards more than 3 feet when running with a kite. At the time we were allowed both a backstay ram and a forestay one. But, having a wobbly rig was very worrying.

On my H376 I set it up (with much more forestay tension than the dealer puts on) and just leave it as it is. I think it needs about 10KN on my rig to keep luff sag within reasonable limits. Of course yours will be substantially less (thinner wire, shorter luff, smaller sail).

Do not go above 20% breaking strain of the wire. Look at the wire in the manufacturers listing 1 x 19 x ?? diameter Stainless .
 
Dec 1, 1999
2,391
Hunter 28.5 Chesapeake Bay
When I bought my boat in 2003, it had the original Hood continuous line furler. You are correct, it is not an efficient reefing system. As either the teeth in the furling drum, or furling line itself, wear, you risk having a reefed sail come completely unreefed when you least expect it and probably in high winds when you really don't want it to happen. I muddled through my first year of ownership with a 110 genoa that did not require reefing very often, but when I bought a 150 the next year, I knew I had to have a furler that was a safe reefing system, too. I installed a Furlex 200 and have been generally happy with this rather high end furler/reefer. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably go with the much cheaper CDI furler with the SS bearing upgrade. While not as high quality as the Furlex, friends that have the CDI (one of which is another H28.5) really like them.

You must have a headsail reefing system that you can trust.
 
Nov 28, 2009
495
Catalina 30 St. Croix
I believe it was the designer Ron Holland that first came out with the B & R rig for his famous one tonner back in the late 70's or early 80's. At that time you were allowed an adjustable back stay of forestay, but not both. He installed a hydraulic head stay. It work well with that design.
Hunter marine started using the B & R rig in their Hunter 34 but w/o the adjustable head stay. The only thing you could do with an adjustable back stay was to depower the main. Yes, you do get more headstay tension.
Most racing boats let the mast go forward as much as possible downwind to better expose the spinnaker. They also use a frackilator (sp?) to pull down on the mast and keep it from swinging. Can be done with the genoa halyard when dropping the headsail for the run.
 
Dec 2, 2003
1,637
Hunter 376 Warsash, England --
Cayennita - B & R

B & R stands for Bergstrom & Ridder. I guess thay claim the credit for the rig's invention.

Lars Bergstrom was a graduate aerodynaminicist who ran his own design office in Florida in the 1990s.
He was personally responsible for the rigs on most of the Hunter range and was not afraid of bringing in new ideas and concepts.
Had supper with him one evening and spent most of the time quizzing him as to why he thought it better than the normal four stays rig - both having additional wires of course.
Prior to that I had a Ron Holland 1/2 tonner. Ron specified a conventional masthead rig and my mast was like a tree trunk.:cussing:

My interest in Lars was because I had just ordered a H376 and was awaiting shipment to the UK.

Apart from his insistence that the rig was NOT to be adjusted whilst under way, I remained somewhat unconvinced of his points of view, although being able to specify a significantly lighter mast section was good, particularly if the masts do not keep falling down - which they don't.
I never did get round to a calculation of the windage of all the wires though.

Anyway mine has been excellent since 1996 and no worry whatsoever - so well done Lars.

BTW: He died in an air crash in an aircraft of his own design.
 
Jun 16, 2011
173
Catalina 350 Rock hall
That is what I thought I could not see any reason to adjust backstay for different conditions ( I never have) but I see a lot of people with backstay adjusters I am no engineer but it seems it would loosen all of the shrouds if you adjust tension on the backstay. I would like to snug it down some ( help headstay sag) but I think I would have to retune the rest of the standing rigging as well. I was hoping for a definitive answer and I think it is not to mess with other then if you are retuning the rig no need to play with it for conditions. Why do so many people have a backstay adjuster on a br rig I guess it is cool I do not know??
 
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