Forestay problem.

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pandos

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I had an episode of halyard wrap, which resulted in a parted halyard. My mate that went to the top of the mast says that the forestay ( brand new) has un ravelled a little about 3 inches below where it enters the swage.

I have not seen it yet/

My instinct is that provided none of the strands are damaged and provided I can twist the whole lot back into position no harm will have been done. It is 8mm and I was going to use 2 vice grips with some protection.

Any thoughts, other than, " pay rigger to go and change entire set up".

thanks in advance.
tony.
 
Realistically you will never feel confident in a blow so yes repalce the forestay. I am surprised it happened to such a thick wire I have seen a lot of it in 1/8 inch or 3/16 wire the falure occurs at the swage and it unavls from there. sorry to hear it.
Stay wires do not last forever (10 years ) and you might consider replacing the side stays which are actually more critical.. olewill
 
Begs the question of how someone unwound the section - did they put the furling line onto a winch and grind? (the big no-no). My instinct would be "I'll never feel secure with it, and it won't cost that much to replace it and solve the insecurity problem."
 
Change the foestay - I doubt you wil re-align the strands properly & it will have lost its strength - wont cost too much for just that.
 
One alternative would be to cut the old swage off and put a new swage or swageless fitting on and use a toggle or extension fitting to make the length up.
 
Had the same problem a couple of weeks ago but my forestay and halyard both broke...... Mast came down approx 1ft from my head!!! Somehow no damage done to boat. Have had boat completely rerigged and then sailed her a couple of weekends ago in a blow just restore confidence. Well worth the extra money just for piece of mind.
 
The problem was caused by the halyard catching the forestay and twisting it unravelling the strands. It is quite a common problem with jib rollers, either because of hayard wrap, or the failure of one of the bearings. The wire is badly damaged now as the stainless is twisted and will have lost much of its strength. Replacement of the entire wire is the only option, as it is impossible to tell how much of the rest of the wire was disturbed and weakened when it happened.

Or leave it until the mast falls down anyway.....!
 
Hi there..

Unfortunely i experienced something similar a few summers ago.

I postponed the problem and eventually lost the forestay. Although in all fairness the twisting was coming from an incorrectly set roller reefing drum.

As the others said... I'd change the forestay and sail happily if possible.

Regards
Tyrone
 
Change it!

Just come back from a 2 week holiday somewhat ruined by jib halyard breaking on day 1, riggers finding forestay damaged just like yours on day 3 when replacing halyard and not being able to get forestay, foil etc off fixed and replaced until day 9/10 as they were too busy.

It will be an expensive lesson in checking and double checking when any resistance is felt when furling or unfurling.....but losing the mast would have been much worse!
 
I could not get help today so stripped the furling gear and foil from the deck. Was able to get clear view. What a mess. Climbed mast and retrieved the inner forestay( this was the original forestay) rigger will make new one tomorrow and I can reverse the process Saturday,

thanks for the advice.

incidently what happened is the halyard gor into the top of the sail slot in the foil it then compressed the foil until a sharpedge caught into the stay and then twisted it and opened it so it was like a work of art.
 
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