Selden Mast rake

[Broke sailor SV Marcell]

I had my Selden in mast furling rig tuned. The man in charge told me that the mast rake was excessive, 10-15 inches. According to the Selden Manual it should have a mast rake of 5 inches.
How could the Dealer mess this up? Is it possible Hunter rigs are designed for that amount of mast rake even though the Selden manual does not say so? Adjusting the mast rake requires taking the mast down.

 

[seadaddler]

Why

First off what made you decide to have your rig tuned,was some thing telling you some thing was wrong.
I am surprised the dealer could screw up the setup of your furling mast,did you contact the dealer to check it out and make it right.
We have the same year boat and model and far I am very happy,I would be interested in any mods you have done,I am thinking of up grading the S1 autopilot with a under deck unit.
Nick

 

[Ken13559]

Your H-36 User Manual would mention the amount of mast rake. Mine was 12". If your forestay is setup with longer adjustable coupling under the furler, then you have some room to adjust the mast rake. Otherwise you might have to shorten the forestay wire by cutting, which I did, hence bring my mast rake from 24" to 12". Your 10-15" seems to be about right but I guess you would want to adjust to your preference.

 

[Broke sailor SV Marcell]

Seadaddler: Reason I had it checked waecause end of last season in 20+ Kts apparent closed hauled with the head sail reefed my forestay would shake violently. My sailmaker put a foam luff over the off season to try alleviate and also recommended I have the tuning checked. Have not had a chance to try it since to see if it has helped. I was just surprised at the Riggers comment.
I also had them install a forespar whisker pole. It is sweet for downwind sailing!!!
Ken: Wow Singapore! I will check the owners manual to see if it says anything there.

 

[Alan]

Boy, talk about really getting things wrong. Where does the mast rake have anything to do with how loose or tight the forestay is? These are two totally different things. The reason your forestay was shaking violently in the higher wind speeds is due solely to a loose forestay. The amount of sag (or looseness) in the forestay is controlled exclusively by the tension in the cap shroud and backstay (if no backstay then cap shrouds only). The mast rake will not have any affect on this.

 

[Broke sailor SV Marcell]

Alan: The rigger was thinking that maybe the forestay is shaking due to the mast pumping. I could not tell him for sure if it is or not because I usually immediately fall off to prevent damaging rig.

 

[Alan]

Mast pumping is due to the same thing, a loose rig. Again has nothing to do with rake.
Your cap shrouds should be set at between 20% and 25% SWL. Many boats have their cap shrouds set far below this which causes all kinds of issues.

 

[chuckwayne]

Your Hunter manual for the 356 (not the generic Selden manual) details the proper setup/tuning procedure for the B&R rig on the 356. The initial prebend is usually set on the ground, but you don't have to take the mast down to adjust. you start by setting the diamonds to put in prebend-no more than 2" for inmast. then you install the mast, using the halyards to position the mast with about 2' of rake. you then tighten the verticals until the turnbuckles are about halfway closed, and then the forestay. Send someone up the mast and tighten the D2 diagonal-just tight plus 2 turns. check for straightness from the first spreaders up and adjust if needed. Lower the adjuster to the deck and check straightness from the deck up. adjust the lowers, D1 if needed. The final step is to sail in 10-15 kts and take up about 1/2 the slack in the leeward stays. count the turns, tack and do the same to the other side. tack and repeat until the leeward stay has no slack. mast bend should be about 1". the sails should be cut to account for about 10" of headstay sag. rake isn't specified, but you may want to adjust if you have too much helm going to windward.

 

[Don12364]

Rake

Chuck.
The H356 manual, on line at http://www.pearson35.com/media/hunter_manual356.pdf, actually specifies rake at 1 foot following an initial set up of 2 feet before connecting the forestay. See page 53 (p 74 on the pdf file).
The chapter also contains the ambiguity that the initial setup is at 2' 0" [~6cm]. But 2' 0"= ~60 cm. and 2" =~6cm. Not easy to know which they intended but this is all altered by the weight on the halyard test being 1' aft the mast heel after connecting the forestay.

BTW: This may not be identical to the H36 in question but one would expect it to be the same.

 

[chuckwayne]

Re: Rake

HI Donalex,
Thanks for pointing everyone to the PDf of the manual-it's a great resource. The 1' measurement is before the final adjustments and includes whatever prebend is set on the mast- So I didn't reference it as a check after you're done. That said, I think 10-15" is clearly too much for a furling rig- my 356 is very neutral on the helm-just a bit of weather helm as it should be, and I've got about 8" of rake (includes 2" prebend). I think the H36 furling has a larger mast section but that's the only difference.

 

[Don12364]

Chuck,
If you have got it how you like it and, if everything is tight, then you have also got it right.
QED.