Westerly Merlin Owners? - forestay diameter

[aidancoughlan]

Hope there's some Westlerly Merlin owner out there who can advise me on the forestay diameter. The westerly book that came with my newly acquired Merlin states that the forestay is 6mm wire. I ordered a new forestay, and a Facnor roller furler to go over it.
The forestay finally arrived recently, and I went about dressing the mast at the weekend - and the hole for the T-Bar of the forestay states "7" - the 6mm T-Bar fits in with plenty of 'wiggle' space left. The old forestay doesnt have any size printed on the T-bar.

My questions are
(a) Is a 6mm forestay sufficient for the Merlin, or is it a mis-print in my book?
(b) Even if 6mm is strong enough, is the extra space around the T-bar a safety issue?

I'm in a bit of a bind - the boat is late going in the water, and changing to a 7mm forestay will delay while I order & wait for a new Facnor to fit the 7mm diameter !

best regards,
Aidan.

 

[asj1]

I can't comment directly on your Merlin, but on my Westerly Fulmar all the standing rigging is one size (7mm) with the backstay being the exception at 6mm.

 

[FlyingSpud]

Try posting here as westerly owners now have their own forum, bound to be a merlin owner there.

 

[aidancoughlan]

thanks guys, I've just posted on the above site, and on the westerly owners site this evening... someone suggested Ian cochrane from XW rigging, who apparently used to manage Westerlys rigging department.

I considered buying a roller system from them by mail order.... now I'm sorry I didnt... I called my local Facnor supplier to warn that I may need to exchange the system because of a sizing error, and they whinged and moaned - I couldn't believe it!

 

[H4B]

XW rigging brilliant service new rotostay system ordered and collected from them , two days, extremely helpful. Ian Cochrane wrote the book re westerly rigging, knows the boats inside out.

 

[aidancoughlan]

Standard size for Westerly Merlin forestay turns out to be 6mm. (courtesy of Ian at XW rigging). I dont know why my boat has 7 written on the T-bar hole in the mast. My local rigger visited the boat on Friday and confirmed that the 6mm T-bar will do the job. In fact, he couldn't fit a 7mm T-bar into the 'number 7' slot. I spoke to another Merlin owner recently, and he has a totally different type of connection on the mast (an eye instead of a T-bar).
I've heard before that westerly were infamous for using up whatever was available at the time - no two boats are exactly the same... it certainly seems to be the case !