Adjustable backstay on B&R?

[AuChante]

My boat is a B&R rig with backstay. The manual has two rigging diagrams, one with standard rigging with backstay, and one with B&R and no side view to tell if my backstay is factory. The boat's getting hauled out tomorrow for a bottom job and inspection. I'll see what they say about it.


I'd like to add a backstay tensioner. It seems like it'd be a very useful adjustment to have. My backstay splits about 10' above the deck and anchors at either corner of the transom. It seems like one of these (pictured) would be easy enough to add.

[rslifkin]

I'm pretty sure your H31 was one of the handful of early B&R rigged designs that had a backstay from the factory. IIRC, the B&R rig was designed to be used with or without a backstay, so once Hunter had a little experience with it, they stopped installing backstays (to get more sail clearance) on the boats that got B&R rigs (which wasn't all Hunters until the late 90s or early 2000s). Note that your H31 is also a masthead rig, while most of the Hunter B&R rigs without backstays were fractional rigs (although they did do a few masthead or almost-masthead rigs on the big boats later on).



I'm not sure about an adjustable backstay with the B&R rig though. I'd expect it would work, but given that the aft swept spreaders and stays are sufficient to keep the mast bent without the backstay at all, those might start to go slack if you over-tighten the backstay.

[AuChante]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Note that your H31 is also a masthead rig, while most of the Hunter B&R rigs without backstays were fractional rigs (although they did do a few masthead or almost-masthead rigs on the big boats later on).

Ah I've never thought of masthead and fractional rigs as anything to consider. It seems like bending the mast on a masthead rig would require vastly more force than fractional.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by AuChante

Ah I've never thought of masthead and fractional rigs as anything to consider. It seems like bending the mast on a masthead rig would require vastly more force than fractional.

Agreed. You'd be able to tighten up the forestay, but I'm not sure how much bend you'd get once the forestay sag is taken up.

[ItDepends]

An adjustable backstay on a masthead rig is used to control forestay tension and sag, much more than trying to bend the mast.

I would guess you would gain more performance by ditching the backstay altogether and going with a fully battened, large roach main. But that is just a guess to get you considering the possibility!