FORESTAY CHAIN PLATE

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Am going to have my s/s bow roller cut off and new wider and higher one made as great difficulty getting mooring rope into it, thing is the forestay bolts onto the left side plate.
Would it matter much if the forestay lower end is fitted about an inch of centre? it carries jib furling.

 

[Birdseye]

There are lots of boats with the forestay not central on the chainplate (my boat included) but all the ones I have seen have had a corresponding opposite movement of the backstay plate too. And of course there is the issue of the hull strength underneath the plate.

This is one where you ideally need advice from an engineer who has seen the current set up.

 

[kds]

Better to move the roller across off centre.
Ken

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Thanks, Ken, and Birdseye, the bow roller is made of two s/s plates aprox 4mm thick and welded onto a s/s plate aprox 4-5mm thick this plate is shaped to the shape of the forepeak and goes back about 12" from the forepeak point, but yes I am going to have side plates welded onto this plate, so they will fit down the sides of the prow about 60mm and will be horozontly bolted through with backing pads and nuts inside the forepeak, as there was some lifting of this plate due to the forces of the forestay pull when I got the boat, and I am now rectifing this.
Dont want to have the bow roller offset too much.
When you say rear stay offset opposite do you mean that if forestay to port then rearstay to starboard?
Thanks, Eamonn.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Eamonn,

Many single mast rigs are out of alignment when running a string line from forestay to backstay with an offset for mast, however, this is not desirable as it loads up one side of the rig, not by a frightening amount but enough to warrant avoiding.

Have you looked at the system that has the chain coming up over the bow roller in the center of the bow, then passing round a roller in front of the forestay (This roller is mounted on it's side) allowing the chain the miss the centre mounted forestay but still feeding to the winch?

Also have a close look inside the bow for any rust marks that may indicate a plate with a length of thread was once fitted, this was a system used by many builders and held the forestay with a left and right hand thread barrel nut, some had enough room for a small turn buckle, others had a thread and nut below the bow that ran back to the underside of the bow plate.

I Hope this helps.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[VicS]

Some stem head fittings have two bow rollers with the forestay attached to the (central) plate between them. Useful I suppose if you want to stow the anchor on one and bring a mooring rope or chain over the other. Also gives you the option of picking up a mooring from either side of the bow without then having to move it round the forestay.

If you are having something made do not forget provision for a (drop nose)pin to prevent mooring warp or anchor chain jumping off the roller.