today i finally stepped the mast on my 87 capri 18. i took capt dons advice and removed the cdi furler. after that i ran my jib halyard through a block on the bow. walked it up (not hard) locked in the halyard through a jib sheet block and attached the forestay pin. easy enough (thanks again don). well the only experience that i have rig tuning is on my com-pac 16, which means tighten the shrouds and forstay until (kind of tight). i did this on the capri with the backstay loose. then i snugged up the backstay. everything looks plum. the question is --how tight should the stays be? the boat came with a loos gauge but i havent been able to find any info at to what tension they should be set. i do have another (rather stupid) question. which hole does the forestay pin go in on the bow. i put it in the one closest to the bow. perpendicular to the boats length. the other three are parallel to the boats length. what are the other three for? oh, i have the stock rig on the boat thanks
tuning the rig for the first time
- Thread starter sailorsteve1
- Start date
Good for you! Now, the mast just needs to be plumb, make sure the boat is level,(just place a level on the cockpit seat to make sure it's level front to back, and then place the level in the companionway to make sure the boat is level side to side. Then you will be able to see and check if the mast is plumb.
The stays don't need to be real tight. A good general rule of thumb is when your sailing, the lee side stays will be slightly slack when normally sailing and the boat is healing a bit. Probably initially set the stays at 25-28. It's a boat, not a violin. Once you get the side-stays set, you can pretty much forget it. Also, a piece of tape used to mark the back-stay where it threads into the top of the turn-buckle is an easy trick. Once that is adjusted, secure the fore-stay turn-buckle so it doesn't move because it's now set also. The only thing you'll have to mess with from pretty much that point on is to tighten the back-stay. It's really a simple boat to rig!
The fore-stay goes into the fore-ward most hole. The aft hole I used for the tack of the head-sail. The middle hole was used for a small turning block for my jib down-haul.
To simplify our rigging and de-rigging, I replaced the turn-buckle on the back-stay with a "Johnson Quick-Lever". I loosened the quick lever to take the load off the fore-stay. Un-pin the fore-stay and lower the mast. When rigging, the quick-lever was already loose, so using the gin pole to pull the mast forward, this made pinning the fore-stay easier. Once the fore-stay was pinned, went to the stern, pulled the lever up on the Johnson Quick-Lever, and my rigging was tight and ready to go. Piece of cake! :dance:
Don
The stays don't need to be real tight. A good general rule of thumb is when your sailing, the lee side stays will be slightly slack when normally sailing and the boat is healing a bit. Probably initially set the stays at 25-28. It's a boat, not a violin. Once you get the side-stays set, you can pretty much forget it. Also, a piece of tape used to mark the back-stay where it threads into the top of the turn-buckle is an easy trick. Once that is adjusted, secure the fore-stay turn-buckle so it doesn't move because it's now set also. The only thing you'll have to mess with from pretty much that point on is to tighten the back-stay. It's really a simple boat to rig!
The fore-stay goes into the fore-ward most hole. The aft hole I used for the tack of the head-sail. The middle hole was used for a small turning block for my jib down-haul.
To simplify our rigging and de-rigging, I replaced the turn-buckle on the back-stay with a "Johnson Quick-Lever". I loosened the quick lever to take the load off the fore-stay. Un-pin the fore-stay and lower the mast. When rigging, the quick-lever was already loose, so using the gin pole to pull the mast forward, this made pinning the fore-stay easier. Once the fore-stay was pinned, went to the stern, pulled the lever up on the Johnson Quick-Lever, and my rigging was tight and ready to go. Piece of cake! :dance:
Don
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don, you are the man. i only wish i could use my cdi furler, but i can see you were right about it being a pain. at least it didnt screw up my forstay. i did locate a hank on jib and after i get back from some business i need to conclude in detroit, ill be taking my capri to the lake for a bit of a shake down cruise. thanks again buddy fairwinds and calm seas
Steve......As I quickly learned on our Capri-18, only to have the lessons re-learned when we bought our C-22, trailering with a furler is a pain in the butt! Rig up a down-haul,(you can use the same routing used for the furling line). It's easy, simple, cheap, and I can douse my head sail quicker than I ever could furl it. No need to go forward, the down-haul holds the sail on the deck, and you can always stick your head out of the forward hatch and place a sail-tie around the sail and the lifeline. Did I mention better sail control and shape as a added bonus, along with better light air performance? We always removed the fore-stay when trailering, (easy with the "T" fitting on the top end), gentle coiled it up, and left it in the cabin until next time.
Where are you heading to in Detroit? I grew up on the east side, (48205, murder capital of the country). A nice place to be "from".....
Don
Where are you heading to in Detroit? I grew up on the east side, (48205, murder capital of the country). A nice place to be "from".....
Don
don, im not really sure. my wife was born there although her people were all canucks. all i know is that ill be driving the car listening to my mother in law sitting next to me and when we get there its carrying the luggage. aint married life fun. thanks again buddy