inner forestay wichard wheel tensioner

[tome]

Happy to differ on this, but a few observations on our boat

The inner stay is attached to the mast close to the forestay and comes through a highfield lever to the deck strongpoint, you can see the arrangement below

When we first set it up, we didn't have sufficient tension and the pointing angle was poor. As we've tuned it (ie more tension) she points much higher without any sag so the point is proved in our case

 

[BlueSkyNick]

what sail is that Tom? and do you have another smaller one too?

 

[tome]

It's a No 3 genoa, 245 sq ft as opposed to the 510 sq ft No 1 on the furler. It's high cut and set on a tack pennant so good viz

We also have a storm jib which is 110 sq ft

 

[BobE]

Got a trade price of 179 odd plus VAT.....Dunno wot the swindlers'll want tho'
Cheers Bob E..

 

[rwoofer]

I got a rigger to give me their professional opinion and they thought the tang setup on the forestay fitting was strong enough. Had nearly 40 knots and it seemed fine.

 

[Strathglass]

The method you are describing ia that normally used in dinghies. Typically on an Enterprise the forestay is used to pretension the luff wire built into the jib. Once the jib is up the forestay is so loose that it just swings about in the wind.

That is fine on a dinghy where the crew have enough to do when sailing.

On some larger craft (especially when racing) it is normal practice to set the forestay very tight and change the foresail luff tension using either the haliard or a cunningham eye to suit wind strength and direction.

With most cuts of foresails it is important to minimise luff sag as much as possible otherwise pointing will suffer. This can be done with forestay tension. It is also equally important not to overtension the luff as this will distort the shape of the sail away from that intended by the sailmaker.

A loose forestay will cause severe chaff over any longer passage.

I have two large highfield levers one to the foot of the staysail/storm job stays and the other to a removable babystay but, until I get the boat in the water I will not know whether I will be able to achieve the necessary tension.

I bought the highfield levers new at a boat jumble. I would prefer better tensioners but I cannot financially justify the purchace of new adjustable wheel or winch handle type tensioners.

Iain

 

[DeeGee]

Why do I feel cross-patch this morning, could it be there is a strange dialogue going on here? Or maybe it was the crab last night? /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Of course you need a strong point on the deck for the tack of the sail. The point is that there is NO reason to put any significant tension in the forestay, which has NO OTHER FUNCTION than to guide the sail. You COULD have a flying jib, but it would be a real piss to get up and down, if you will pardon my phrasing... Many boats do have flying jibs.

My contribution stems ONLY from the suggestions as to how to put major tensioning devices onto the stay. Now, put one in the deck pennant to the stay/storm sail, and it would make some sense, as it is pretty hard to get enough tension into the sail luff in some circumstances**. My inner forestay has a highfield lever, set up so as to put enough tension to stop the stay waving about in the breeze - never measured but probably about 50 lbs?

I repeat my comment that the swaged end fitting failed on my inner forestay, coming cross channel in F6/7, and some cord plus a rolling hitch went on the bottom of the forestay, so there would be something to pull the sail down on when we got home, and to stop the forestay from waggling about in the breeze. A better demo of the lack of function of the stay could not be found.

**At my age, I find all my weight on the winch handle is barely enough.