Adding a Solent Stay to mast

[Trident]

I've got a masthead rig with twin back stays on my cat. It has a baby stay as well to balance the lower shrouds.

I want to add a solent stay to the rig as I have hank on sails and it would be much easier to have the big one on one stay and the smaller one on the other rather than have to change sails all the time.

There have been several threads on here about this and I've read Brion Toss and some PS articles so I am happy that I will attach a Wichard fitting to the front of the mast within 6% of the top and thus not need extra back stays. This gives me up to 1m to play with and my measurements think 700mm will be right for what I want to do and keep the two stays parallel.

The normal procedure seems to be a strong point to the deck behind the original stay but being a cat I have a net there so that's out.

What I want to do is add a prodder / bow sprit to move the original mast head stay forward by about 75cm and then run the new stay down to the original attachment on the front crossbeam.

Any rigging experts have opinions on whether the load paths will change significantly ? Will the mast head to bow sprit line take the majority of the forces and thus need bobstays etc or will the new stay 700mm down the mast to the original cross beam strong point take some of the load etc ... The front stay will run a screecher sail - good to around 20 knots apparent and the rear will run a blade jib for heavier airs.

Riggers in these parts seem very reluctant to comment without feedback from the original designer/builder (long dead and company bankrupt)

Any thoughts grateful received

 

[Ingwe]

What's your thinking behind not going down the route of a code sail on a furler attached on the spinnaker halyard and on a proder - which is what most Cat's seem to opt for?

I am sure what you are proposing is possible but I imagine the engineering required will be very heavy duty (and expensive) if it is to be load bairing, even for a prodder for a code sail on a Cat you need a Dolphin striker for the bobstay, for what you are proposing your probably in the realms of needing to re-engineer the forward cross beam to handle the torsional loads on it even with a Dolphin striker as you will still have substantial twisting loads pulling upwards.

 

[Trident]

What's your thinking behind not going down the route of a code sail on a furler attached on the spinnaker halyard and on a proder - which is what most Cat's seem to opt for?

I am sure what you are proposing is possible but I imagine the engineering required will be very heavy duty (and expensive) if it is to be load bairing, even for a prodder for a code sail on a Cat you need a Dolphin striker for the bobstay, for what you are proposing your probably in the realms of needing to re-engineer the forward cross beam to handle the torsional loads on it even with a Dolphin striker as you will still have substantial twisting loads pulling upwards.

Yes I am trying to decide whether to make a bow sprit out of carbon and run bobstays or whether to spend the winter just making a new carbon crossbeam and longeron - rather a bigger project but probably stiffer and stronger all round

 

[Tranona]

I have just done something similar to put a working jib on an inner and a large genoa on the outer, mostly to be used independently and the genoa for lighter offwind. attachment point is a Selden fitting 30cm below the masthead on a 10m mast, selected to get the 2 stays more or less parallel and maximum hoist for the jib. collecting the new sail this afternoon and putting it on for a trial Friday. Photo shows the lower end

 

[benjenbav]

@Tranona - That looks a really super job.

With apologies for the mild thread drift, how was the anchor seated before the modification?

 

[Tranona]

Thank you. It ought to be given it has taken over 2 years from conception to (almost) finish. First endless arguments over parts missing from the furler kit eventually resolved after exchanges with the factory in France. Then discovering more rot than expected under the bowsprit that led to removal and rebuilding the stemhead using some lovely mahogany I inherited from my FIL over 50 years ago. This meant unstepping the mast. Bowsprit got the strip down and revarnish treatment. Then long wait for the rigger to cut down the Furlex to the lower fitting.

The anchor is an Epsilon which is supposed to have the same shank geometry as a Delta or CQR, but I went down a size (because it is more efficient!). so it does not self stow and solution is to fit a chain stopper to bring the chain and shank down to deck level and the fluke will touch the stainless strip I added to the underneath of the bowsprit.

Never a dull moment.