So OK ... in 1982 I added a harken roller furling to #327 ... which was moved to #505 in 1985 ... Today that original unit was trashed and replaced with a Harken MK IV 1.

This is the same unit I added to 526 last May.

1. there are not a lot of people who have built these units around ... So I built the first one taking hours to figure it out ... the second one no problem at all.

2. Both "kits" including the new forestay and harken unit were ordered as a 2 boat package at a package price ... ordered on the same day and received together as a package.
But they were different.

3. The unit for 526 had a headstay too long with no base fitting for the stem, and one foil was cut too short. Hall replaced those parts ... we dropped off the original forestay for them to use as a guide as it had been measured for Marblehead NA ... parts back in 24 hours.

4. Today as we were mast back in 505, we could not attach the fitting at the stem as it was too big for the stem, so we cut a pieceof that fitting off to fit ... It looks like it will work, but I will send a photo to Hall to see if there is a part that is right or at least try to find out why we didn't have that problem on 526.

Also they had an additional fitting at the top of the forestay that we removed. This left the forestay about an inch short of the target 35'10.5" to the base of the stem, BUT I am at 35 on the loos gauge, mast socked all the way back in deck hole, and still a bit of sag ... if anyone else has had this situation I would appreciate knowing what you are doing. I didn't notice this on 526 this summer, but that boat has a different halyard box

Moral of this story ... Send old forestay to rigger to use as guide. And check it all out ahead of time. These boats are different ... and the vendors can surprise.






note hole size is larger because replacement Halyard box used a 1/2 in. pin instead of a 3/8 so we drilled it out a bit.


arrow illustrating need to cut fitting