weather helm

[Tom]

My boat (hunter 25) has a terrible weather helm. It didn't last year. I believe thatthe rigging affects this. Anyone know.. do I try to pull the mast forward or aft?Thanks

 

[Chris Phillips]

hmmm....sounds familiar

Tom,I also have a H25 and it has a pretty bad weather helm. I'm going to try and rake the mast forward a bit and see what happens. What size headsail are you using? I primarily use a 150 genoa in thur night racing and if the winds are up a bit boy do I have a fight on my hands. Good luck. Hopefully you'll get a few more responses than I did when posing this question!Chris

 

[Jim]

ease the backstay

In all likelyhood you have raked the mast too much. I've been sailing an an h25 for several years now and I've found that I need very little backstay tension generally. Hope this helps. Jim s/v Cygnus

 

[Brad Stone]

Forward...

Rearward rake will increase weather helm, and forward rake will decrease it. I've been playing with forestay/backstay adjustment on my 25.5. I felt I had no feel in my tiller, so I loosened the forestay 2 turns, and tightened the backstay 2, giving the mast more rearward rake. Went sailing, and the difference was quite an increase in weather helm. I'm going to reverse that by one turn to ease it a bit. In your case try the reverse to reduce rearward rake, perhaps 2 turns, easing the backstay and tightening the forestay, go sail and see where your at. Adjust from there. I use a Loos gauge to check final tension.  Good luck, Brad