Mast "prebend"...inmast furling...why/how?

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Sep 24, 1999
1,511
Hunter H46LE Sausalito
postscript

By the way, North sails has a great tutorial for adjusting backstay tension. check out the link
 
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Alan

John, I checked out the link...

...that you provided. It's really well done. I agree with everything that it explains with regard to sail shaping. The one problem is that it deals with a genoa and our discussion here has been dealing with the main.
 
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Alan

I'm REALLY happy...;D

...with this discussion that we've got going here. Most of the posts on this forum are about TV antennas, or refrigerator size, or some other nonsailing issue. But finally we've got something going here that really deals with SAILING!!
 
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Bob Bass

I Had the Problem, Too!

We had the same problem with our 450 with in-mast furling, B&R rig and no backstay. There was that bend in our mast that you described and when pulling out the main, the second layer of sail tried to come out with the first. We had our rig retuned, removing most of the bend and that solved the problem. With a Passage 420 and inmast furling, you are a cruising boat, not a racing boat. Forget about mast bend, straighten the mast and you will enjoy the boat more. By the way, have an expert that really understands the B&R tune the boat because tightening on the forestay will not solve the problem.
 
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Stu Sauer

Alan, Sailboats or Condos?

Alan, I'm with you. It's great to have a lively discussion more related to sailing and tie in some of the expert threads. Folks should be carefull with the extreme differences in Hunter rigs from full masthead B&R to B&R fractional to B&R without backstays, then roller furling in-mast, etc. While it's great to have all these options, discussions and 'expertise' may be perceived differently for each of the rig types and how they are being used. I rigged and tighten my backstay adjuster when my sailmaker was measuring both the prebend and the mast bend under full backstay tension and even he was a little surprised at the difference - again a masthead 28.5 with a fairly small mast cross section. Anyway my point is I got a perfectly cut main sail for the way I specifically use the boat and my particular headstay sag and mast rake were taken into account. Now if I had a bigger cruising boat and an internal roller furler in the mast, I'd completely agree with their direction of using the furler to shorten sail and flatten it as well. I'd still rather weigh in on real sailing issues than how to make the boat more like a condo.
 
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