Setting rig on yacht with long bowsprit

[Sulaire]

I have a hans christian 41, that i have just completed a big refit on...

Back in the water now and trying to get to grips with setting the rig, does anyone have any experience with setting rigs on boats with long bowsprits and associated bobstays and whisker stays?

When the mast was off, the bob stay was slack, with the mast on, when i tension the back stay it merely tightens the bobstay, leaving the forestay still a little slack but the masthead is too far back at the top. And a strange inversion below the spreaders!

I imagine i should slacken all off and tighten the bobstay first, but having never done this what is the correct way to set a bobstay/whisker stays?

Any help gratefully received

[zeehag]

spring for a rigger your first time and have him splain to you why and how and what to do. as wellas rationale.
it is well worth the payment to get it right. it is easier to keep it right than achieve rightness.
sagging bowsprit is a problem-- bobstay helps keep mast up. it all works together, and is a matter of geometry and physics.
good luck.

[Sulaire]

Hi zeehag,

Thanks for the reply, love your boat.

I have no problem springing for a rigger, infact i have looked, but none where I am in Spain seem to know about dealing with boats with bowsprits like ours! Its all bens/bavs/hanses etc here!

Looking for an old school rigger i guess!

[neilpride]

Your forestay furler have a turnbuckle in the bottom drum??

[Sulaire]

Yes, it is a furlex 300, there is a tensioner inside the furler, but not much left to adjust there....

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by Sulaire

Yes, it is a furlex 300, there is a tensioner inside the furler, but not much left to adjust there....

Well your mast is set up fairly straight , not much rake aft, and you should found a balance with the bottom turnbuckles, if they are in the limit probably the wire is to long....

[topmast]

Snug up the bobstay first.

[Dougtiff]

Obtain Brian Toss's book on rigging, it will answer all your question's.

[TrentePieds]

You can go a long way towards helping yourself before you call in a rigger. Google up the specifications for the boat - here: HANS CHRISTIAN 41 sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com

Print out the page. On the p/o draw a line, perpendicular to the water line from the after side of the truck down to the deck. Measure the distance from the aft side of the mast to the point where that line intersects the desk. Two ways to find that distance in inches, but we can come back to that later. Even in cm.s. Or since you are in Spain, in mm.s :-)

While lying alongside, release your main halyard from the head of the mainsl and hang something - anything - heavy on its end. Note where it does, or would, touch the deck. Now, with your bobstay slack, rake your mast using the back- and jib-stays till the intercept is where the drawing sez it should be. The jib stay is the one that goes from the truck to the sprit. The stay from the hounds to the stemhead is the fore-stay. Leave it slack for now. Tension is unimportant at this stage. You only need to snug up so the truck is in the right position fore'n'aft.

Now do the same with the upper shrouds. The objective is the get the truck positioned directly over the centre line. Again, tension is unimportant. Your truck should now be good fore'n'aft and thwartships. But there is no compression load on the mast, and the sprit's fore-end is where it is in the up'n'down direction. There is no compression on the sprit either. Now snug up the bobstay. All the "strings" except the lower shrouds and the fore-stay are now snug, and no more. Then snug up the lowers and the fore-stay, and you mast will now be where the designer meant it to be.

Tension is a whole different matter, but the HC is not a racing boat, so you needn't get all harsh about tensioning the strings. Your objective from here on is to get enuff tension on each string that three objectives are met: 1) that there is no wiggle in your mast when bare, 2) that no wiggle is introduced by the loads imposed when under sail and 3) that the rigging is not subjected to shock loads as as "loose" rig would be when under sail and in a seaway. Once you are at that point, you can begin to refine the tensions. You do that while under sail. Brian Toss' discourses will tell you how to do that, as will a number of members of this forum :-). But bear in mind that the LEAST tension that meets the objective is the "correct" tension.

TrentePieds .

[hamburking]

Its a lot like tuning a guitar. Not too hard once you get the idea, but starting from scratch, well, take it slow and keep your eyes open. I second the ideas of reading up online and finding a local who has a clue to help.

[Snowpetrel]

Looks like you have start from the sprit in your case. It shpuld be straight or just slightly bowed down so it will straighten as the bobstay stretches under load. Is the sprit bolted down or floating free at the stem?

If its foating then you can only tighten the bobstay until it just kisses the stem.

If after tightening the bobstay and forestay down you still have to much aft rake then you need to shorten the forestay.

The bow fwd in the middle is probabably due to a keel steped mast, and/or tight forward lowers or staysail stay, or prehaps if swept spreaders it could be tight caps loose lowers/intermediates.

Posting a few photo's of the rig and bowsprit would help.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Sulaire]

Thank you all for taking the time to post ideas and suggestions, very helpful,
i will let you know how i get on with it. Just a few other snagging issues to sort out first... but at least she is in the water again!