Adding Running Backstays

[Cheechako]

I would thru bolt the tangs. The closer your headstay attachment on the mast is to the top the less you need backstays. One option would be to not use the tang for the headstay you have and mount one near the top with no backstays.

[neilpride]

Yeah agree, your 1 deck tang is just few inches from the aft lower turnbuckle, obviously you need more tensión there, and you mention the top tang is at the spreaders so my guess is the inner forestay is there to? so the FWD deck tang could be for light air and the aft point for heavy air ?

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

4:1 is quite common, but were it me, I'd design things so that the tail end coming out of the tackle could easily be led to a winch. One reason being that when you account for friction in a 4:1, you get about 3:1 efficency. So then if you can pull on the line with 50lbs of force by hand, that's 150lb of tension on the stay. Which is no where near the nominal 20-25% breaking strength that standing rigging is routinely tuned to. Not that they necessarily need to be quite so tight, but having the ability to crank them up a bit more than by hand is better than not.

Also, if you can't lead them to a winch, then you'll be relying on the built in cam cleat on a block to fully hold 25% of the load on the stay. And even if said cleat can mechanically hold this much, it may not be enough if the load on the stay gets real high. Plus which, at higher loads, cam cleats tend to chew up lines via their sharp teeth.

Just my $0.02 anyway

I want to second the motion for making it possible to get the tail of the line, through a "rope clutch" of adequate strength, to the winch. It may take a bit of research to find one strong enough for the loads. Our runners are Dyneema, with polyester double braid tails and 3:1 blocks, to the winches.

I think Jim got it right with the sheet stoppers, because they show little sign of wear after 12 yrs., but have been changed out once.

Ann

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by mwybo

One last question for this thread. I've read that both a 4:1 purchase tightened by hand is best and that a 1:1 on a winch is best for securing the working running backstay. Any experience with either (or preferably both) ?

Thanks .

Mike Wybo
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On that size boat it far easier and cheaper just to use the spare windward sheet winch for the runner. It is real easy if you have four winches in the cockpit, but it works ok with just two.

Most of the time you need the runners you will be down to staysail only, and that frees things up nicely.

Block and tackle either means lots of rope in the cockpit, or going on the side deck to unclip and shift the tackle. And it will propably cost more to buy the blocks and rope of an adequate load rating than just adding a couple of small winches.

For runners I'd look at T balls with a loop to attach spectra runners onto. Just run one length of normal spectra right back to the winch, and cover the section (if you use uncovered spectra) that goes around the winch.

I like to run the runners to a block forward of the boom so the runner doesn't catch around the leech of the sail. But if you deep reef it can be handy to shift them right aft so the boom clears them. That way you can tack without touching them.

There is a lot of merit in using a dynice dux (or similar) inner forestay and making the whole lot easily removable for coastal sailing.