rotostay forestay tension problem

[dimdav]

Hi guys,

hope you can help, got a new to me mirage 270 and I am having difficulty getting any sort of forestay tension when all other standing rigging is tightened, I reckon its because the rigging was loose when I bought it and assume that the rotostay was slackened off as well, question is.....
If I play about with the nut and thread underneath the drum, will this add tension? or will something fall off?

here is a picture of said rotostay in case that helps

 

[billcole]

Hi there
I think you've got the same rotostay as me. It has a fairly normal forestay contained within it, and the bit you can see under the drum is the bottom half of the bottlescrew. To get at the top half you need to unscrew the foil section from the top of the drum and slide the foil a few inches up the forestay. The part with the shackle on it in your picture is the bit that unscrews from the drum and stays with the foil section. I've got a feeling it's a left handed thread, although I can't remember well enough to be absolutely certain. I freed mine by tapping the shackle lug sideways with a hammer, but it wasn't a difficult as I'd expected. Once you've got the bottlescrew fully accessible you can of course tighten in the normal way before screwing the foil section back in place. I got all this information at the time I needed it by phoning Rotostay, who were very clear and helpful with instructions over the phone, so you may want to consult the experts yourself rather than relying on my memory !
Good Luck and enjoy the new boat.
Bill

 

[charles_reed]

Your guess is right, the Rotostay has been slackened off.

Take all the cord off the drum, you'll find a slot inside which is a 19mm nut (first problem is to find a slim enough spanner to go in, tho' yours may be smaller). That is the locking nut for the upper portion of the forestay turnbuckle.

Keeping the pin in the lower part of the turnbuckle use the cord-guide arm to adjust (clockwise for shorten) the turnbuckle.

As you've probably wound the exposed part of the lower thread into the turnbuckle, you'll have to unscrew that to do the job properly.

Rotomarine on 01243 573131, can probably let you have a copy of their assembly instructions, which are essential when you want to dismantle the assembly to change the forestay (every 13 years as it's the least stressed part of the rigging after the backstay.

 

[charles_reed]

You\'ll find

the biggest challenge is undoing the nut holding on the drum - if the foil fits properly (upper bearing on top swage-body) you shouldn't be able to lift enough to get at the top half of the bottlescrew.

 

[Talbot]

It is a good plan on a rotostay to lift the foil of the drum and slide it up the rigging as far as possible, then grease the stainless block that fits into the bottom of the foil. After a few years without maintenance, getting this bit apart can strain the patience of a saint!

 

[dimdav]

Hi guys thought I would give you an update

Stripped it down (actually didnt have a problem with the captive lock nut bit of wd and bingo) and still couldnt get acces to the bottle screw so decided to remove the forestay from the bow and give the hammerhead type connection on the bottom a couple of turns (after having loosened the rest of the rigging to hand tight.

Worked a treat now have fully tensioned forestay and enought space left for backstay adjustment when needed.

Well it work a treat apart from the fact that I noticed the sail was furled in the wrong deriction and that after we put it back together it unurled itself when we were underway! butthat a different problem entirely

Thanks again for your help on this

David

 

[Dipper]

The method you have used is probably perfectly safe but has a couple of drawbacks. Apologies if you are already aware of these!

If the rigging screw within the Rotostay had been slackened off at some stage before you bought the boat, there may only be a small amount of thread holding the top section of the screw since this bit has not been retightened. If you haven’t already done so, it would be a good idea to visually check that sufficient thread is engaged at this point so that it is safely secured.

Adjusting only one end of the rigging screw means you have limited your range of adjustment by 50%. Obviously this is not a problem at the moment but if you needed to tighten the forestay more in the future, you may need to adjust the top end as well.

As charles_reed mentioned, the 19mm top locking nut has limited access and most spanners won’t fit in the hole provided. I ground down the (rounded) edges of a 19mm spanner with an angle grinder to make it fit through the hole and this adjustment is now no longer a problem for me.

For those who haven’t done this before, billc is correct in that the foil fits on the drum with a left hand thread. This can be difficult to undo partly due to minor corrosion at the junction and also due to the difficulty of holding the drum still whilst trying to turn/shock the foil round.