furling staysail ,advice needed

[oak]

I know that there are already existing threads on this subject but this may get overlooked.
I have installed a Ronstan furler on the staysail with the forestay guard.
Its seems very close to the forestay and when furling the clew with sheets tend to jam on the forestay.
the guard also seems to induce a slight angle in the forestay.
I have the forestay pretty tight.perhaps not tight enough?
do others who have this system have these fairly minor problems.everyone seems to have different stem arrangemnts
It struck me that if I could move the Ronstan back one or two inches that might solve all the problems.
I have put a picture in my album to illustate the point.
question .what type of fitting could I use to achieve this.?
all I can think of is a flat bar bolted to the single deck fitting,extending forward an inch or two, with another hole further back to take the Ronstan.the extension preventing the bar from pivoting
any advice,comments welcome
Oak
"Merlin"
No 25 S.A.

[Simon Head]

Hi Oak

The forestay needs to be tight.

I use a larger fitting for the the forestay protector- the Ronstad fitting designed for use with the furler.

I do not have any problems- there is a picture here:

http://capecutter19.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=3&pictureid=27

The forestay needs to be tight enough to "twang".

Regards

Simon Head
CC19 Halcyon

[oak]

Thanks Simon for the advice.
I am using the Ronstan forestay guard[as you previosly recommended and which had to come from Australia
I will give the forestay another little tweak.

but,would it not be better to have the forestay and the staysail in parellel?
my forestay and staysail block are on the same fitting next to each other so the angle of approach is very narrow.
I propose to put the staysail halyard block on a short strop,I haven't measured it exactly yet but about 7 ins.I jury rigged that this morning and it seem quite sweet.I didn't have my tape with me
What do you think of that idea?
How was your trip to Scotland?Its 30 years since we kept a boat on the West Coast I bet its changed a bit.
regards
Jack
Merlin

[oak]

Simon,the link to your picture would not open so I am not sure which one I should look at.
the pictures in your album of mods shows clearly your furler but your deck fitting is different to mine and you seem to have more clearance to the forestay
Jack

[Simon Head]

Hi Jack

I have just viewed your picture- It appears that the bow roller has been retrofitted with a non SA bow roller as the fitting for the staysail is welded to this- normally it is a through fitting bolted through the deck to a reinforcement pad. This would possibly explain the differing clearance of the staysail to the forestay from my boat. One of the things that is curious is the length of your forestay. I can clearly see from your picture that the swaged ends of your forestay are nearly all the way into the bottle screw- mine are only in about 15mm at the most when fully tightened. Has the forestay been replaced. Is is too long?

With regards to Sotland it was blowing F7 most of the week so only got out once- in the top end of a F5/6- a very spirited sail with a quite lumpy seas from Dunstaffnage over to Lismore.

I am going up again with my son at the end of July- either to the Clyde for a cruise or up to Craobh Haven and a cruise to Kilchoan for the regatta opposite Tobermory.

Regards

Simon Head

CC40 Halcyon

[oak]

Well Simon,I walked over to the boat and tightened up the forestay fully and thje shrouds ,the result was the furler works ok.Thanks for that tip.get a bit nervous with wooden masts cranking up the bottlescrews.
I still think a strop with the halyard block may be a good idea.
I don't know if the forestay has been changed.
I think it is a bit longer than the other two stays if I remember rightly when I was rigging the mast.Are your all the same length
the other big problem I am trying to overcome is a leaking main hatch.
thunderstorms here today so catching up on the shore jobs.
rgds
Jack

[Dennis]

[quote="Simon Head"]Hi Jack

I can clearly see from your picture that the swaged ends of your forestay are nearly all the way into the bottle screw- mine are only in about 15mm at the most when fully tightened. Has the forestay been replaced. Is is too long?

Hello all

Just thought I would stick my oar into this discussion. I note your comments Simon on the forestay. My bottle screw also is nearly fully adjusted in, the screw threads have only about 10mm left before they are fully into the bottle screw body. The point is, mine is a new boat with the forestay and shrouds as supplied by Honnor Marine.

This suprised me when I first rigged the boat. I tried increasing the tension on the shrouds in order to lengthen the forestay, but then found that the mast retaining bolt on the tabernacle would not fit. I have found that I need the shroud bottlescrews at about the mid point of their adjustment range and the forestay bottlescrew almost fully screwed in for everything to work.

I have to be careful when tensioning the luff of the yankee/genoa not to overtighten, as it is easy to totally slacken the forestay.


Cheers

Dennis

CC19 #100 Mary Ann

[GRIMSHAW]

Hi Dennis
I too suffer from an overlong forestay and its consequences; I pointed this out to Bob but he doesn't seem to have applied a correction to the latest boats, yours included. Sailing without a retaining bolt in the tabernacle doesn't worry me too unduly - if the forestay was to break (without a genoa/yankee bent on) the force would probably tear the tabernacle from the deck :I just have to remember to jamb a thin screwdriver into the boltholes when raising/lowering the mast.
PS I've now adopted your method of lifting up the waterstay when on the mooring to clear the mooring lines. Graham

[oak]

Interesting comments on the length of forestay.
I have to put the lower bolt in before tighting the shrouds otherwise it would never go in.a previous owner has drilled a second hole above the orignal to give a bit more clearance.
with the forestay fully adjusted my shrouds are about half way in the bottlescrews perhaps a bit more.
one advantage of having a furling staysail is that I have another wire forstay ,as far as the halyard any rate.
how are the midges Dennis?perhaps they havn't come yet
Jack
"Merlin"

[Dennis]

Hello Jack

I can report that the famous Kielder midge has not made an appearance (yet) whilst I have been sailing this year.
I have managed 8 days sailing so far and the weather has generally been good, lots of clear days and only one rain shower. Fortunately the midges dont fly over the lake, so they are usually only a problem when coming back to the shore particularly in the early evening.
However, July/August is usually the worst time for them so I have that to look forward to.

Cheers

Dennis