O'Day 25 Spreaders

[close hauled]

My son just purchased his first boat, a '78 O'Day 25. The mast was temporarily stepped by the seller, in his driveway, for show, and I noticed that the spreaders were pointed forward by 10 degrees or so. I asked the seller, (who was not really a sailor, and was selling for a friend) if the shrouds were rigged correctly, and he really did not know. Looking at the geometry ot the shrouds, it seems that the spreaders should be perpendicular to the centerline of the boat.

The simple question is, should the spreaders point directly abeam, or do they point foreward or aft. If they should point abeam, is it possible that they got reversed port to starboard? Would that cause them to angle forward?

Never rigged a sailboat before, so this is virgin territory for me. Been reading about stepping a mast, and while it seems straightforward, the prospect of losing the mast on my son's first boat is a little scary.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Erieau]

I'm sure the others will have more educated input, but I can tell you for sure that MY '78 Oday 25 has spreaders that are perfectly straight out abeam.
Remove the spreaders from the mast, and roll them on the floor. Do they flop along, or roll smoothly? If the spreaders are straight and true, then the stainless fittings they fit into are bent.

 

[RichBone]

The spreaders should be pointing slightly upwards. Ideally they should bisect the angle of the upper shroud at the spreader end.

 

[Ward H]

Pretty sure my chain plates sit a few inches to stern of the mast. Like Joe the spreaders appear to be straight out but if checked with a straight edge they must have an angle slightly to stern because of the chain plate location.
In otherwards, what RBone said.
Do you have the O'day 25 manual? That explains how to step the mast. One main thing different from the smaller boats is on the 25 you should raise the mast from the bow. That is in the manual. One reason is the eyelet on the stern side of the mast is for the boom vang. If you drop the mast to the stern that eyelet will punch a hole in the cabin top unless you have a yoke at the stern to catch the mast before it swings down too low. I would have at least two helpers for raising and lowering the first time at least. Also, open the shroud turnbuckles. If you leave them tight you can bend the chain plates.

 

[cbourne200]

Prev boat was a '75 Columbia T-23. Looking at spreaders from deck level, they appared to be perpendicular to mast. But once the mast was down, it was clear they had a small upward tilt (toward top of mast). Not sure how much of an angle, but RBone has it right I think. This has nothing to do with spreaders swept to rear (as in no backstay) or where the chainplates are positioned. Yes, I know Columbia and O'Day are different mfg's, but theory should hold true for both.

Charles