Stay attachment points.

[Even Chance]

I have an E-Boat, and would like to ask a wee question about the stay attachment points. I have been using the forward deck ring to attach the caps, and the rear ones to attach the lowers.

My main is a bit blown out, but I cant afford a new one, so....
Would swapping the stay attachments over work? So the lowers are on the forward ring? Would this help to pull the center of the mast forward a wee bit and flatten the sail a bit? The spreaders are in line, not swept.

Anything else I can do to flatten it a bit? I was also thinking about a baby forestay to pull a bit of bend into the mast as I have all the wire to do that. What do you think? Dont be shy now! lol

 

[William_H]

No I would not swap the stay attachment points over. The intermediate stays will need to be on the aft chain plates so that they can pull the middle of the mast aft. However I would have thought there would be some sort of forward pull on the middle of the mast to counteract this aft pull. Usual thing is intermediate stays going forward as well as aft. ie 4 intermediate stays going to mid mast. Or a baby stay going to the middle of the foredeck. The latter is simpler but does get in the way of tacking the jib. Try plastic tubing over the stay for the first metre. The former is hopefully clear of the jib leach but requires 2 more wires. Or spreaders angled backwards can do the same job.
I don't know the boat so of course it might simply have a mast which is so robust in the fore and aft direction as to not need support. In which case the lowers (intermediates) could be taken to the same chain plate as the caps.

There are a raft of things to do to a baggy mainsail. Fit a cunningham down haul to tension the luff. More outhaul tension.
Perhaps even a flattener reef like a baby reef about 6 inches above the standard clew hole (outhaul) to fold up some of the baggy bottom. Plus mast bend but mast bend is not normally very significant in a mast head rig. Forward intermediate stays might get you 3 inches middle forward at the most.
Of course if you have a fractional rig then more backstay should help. good luck olewill