Lenghtening forestay

[JAYEL]

I have a Trapper300 and I have just realized that the mast has a forward rake when the more experienced yotties reckon that it should be raked aft by 12-18" to improve pointing and upwind performance. This means lengtening the forestay/ furling gear by about 1ft. This will raise the genny so it no longer rubs the stancions and side wires. Will this cause the vessel to be even more tender than it is now?, and what do I ask for at the chandlers when I try to explain 12" stainless strips with regular bolt holes. John

 

[ghostlymoron]

Don't forget that raking the mast aft will cause your boom to drop at the rear. You may have to re-cut your main.

 

[vyv_cox]

12 to 18 inches is quite a lot on a relatively small boat. Aft rake on my Sadler 34 is less than 12 inches and the boat points well. Some boats go best with the mast upright. I would botch it temporarily on a trial basis, using toggles if you can get them or strong shackles if you can't.

Once you have decided on the best rake, and decided if it's worth recutting sails, shortening mainsheet strops, shortening the backstay and maybe shrouds, lengthening babystay, moving genoa fairleads, doing something to prevent halyard wraps, etc, etc, then you can make up a strop of the right length to put at the top of the forestay. This will overcome your concerns about raising the height of the genoa, although for the few inches it will probably take it would seem more beneficial than detrimental.

 

[Ubergeekian]

I have a Trapper300 and I have just realized that the mast has a forward rake when the more experienced yotties reckon that it should be raked aft by 12-18" to improve pointing and upwind performance. This means lengtening the forestay/ furling gear by about 1ft.

Are you sure? A little forestay change gives a lot of rake change. For example, suppose you have a 30' vertical mast and a 10' offset between base and forestay attachment. That's a forestay length of 31' 7".

Now give it an after movement of 1' at the masthead. The forestay length is now 31' 11".

In this case a 1' increase in forestay length would give an aft rake of 23 degrees, moving the masthead back by very nearly twelve feet!

 

[ianat182]

Is your mast deck stepped with more than one position that it can fit at the base? If so moving the foot of the mast forward may do the job without further extension of the forestay,and might possibly be the correct setting anyway for the boat.
Obviously the mast will have to be lowered and rig tensions adjusted again.
Before you alter the existing setup check the backstay tension,and if you can adjust it,try this first.
You may generate some weather helm in both instances
Any rake at all will change the angle of the boom slightly but I would have guessed that 9" mast rake aft would be as much as would be needed .

ianat182

 

[wotayottie]

I have a Trapper300 and I have just realized that the mast has a forward rake when the more experienced yotties reckon that it should be raked aft by 12-18" to improve pointing and upwind performance.

They are talking nonsense. The rake that a boat mast should have is decided at the design stage and its quite possible (though unlikely with a modern boat) that a boat be designed with forward rake. Lots of old gaffers were designed that way.

Raking the mast will move the centre of effort of the sails backwards and if you overdo it you will end up with lee helm. But it shouldnt make any direct difference to the tenderness of the boat which is a function of hull shape and ballast.

So your starting point should be other Trapper sailors to find out what the standard rake is. Then as you suggest, a plate with two holes in it is the normal way of doing things

 

[Davy_S]

Raking the mast will move the centre of effort of the sails backwards and if you overdo it you will end up with lee helm.

Are you sure about that?

 

[andygc]

Are you sure about that?

That'll be weather helm