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Forums28
Topics3,983
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Most Online238 Feb 9th, 2024
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Backstay
#2217
12/29/01 10:54 AM
12/29/01 10:54 AM
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Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
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Anonymous
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Unregistered
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I am considering removing the original backstay from my boat and replacing it with TEC12 line or something similar to save weight aloft and reduce mainsail chafe. I'm racing PHRF only and plan to keep the wire backstay should I ever have the opportunity to race OD. I tend to run the boat with very little backstay until the wind picks-up, in fact when I step the mast I only thread the backstay turnbuckles enough to expose the holes to insert split rings.
Questions for the Forum: do other guys keep their backstay as loose? With the swept-back spreaders, I assume the rig can stand at dock and sail in light air (under 5 kts) without a backstay.
I am becoming a fanatical about the weight of the boat and am trying to find opportunities to reduce weight without compromising my PHRF rating. The backstay is about the last left... unless I look at the forestay as well... hmmm...
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Re: Backstay
#2218
12/29/01 12:51 PM
12/29/01 12:51 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 104 Lake Stevens, WA, USA
Alan Grim
Senior Member
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 104
Lake Stevens, WA, USA
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Going to a rope backstay from wire is a common practice to reduce weight. You are right that it is illegal under class rules. But under PHRF, you should NOT recieve a penalty. I say should because, being a PHRF handicapper myself, I know that our region does not penalize a change like that. But I also know that not all regions are the same. Check with your handicapper first.
If you want to reduce weight aloft, I suggest that you copy the J24 fleet. Get rid of the luff track on the forestay in favor hanked on headsails. Get rid of one jib halyard (how often do you really change sails anyway?). Get all the lights off the mast. Move your antennae to the stern pulpit from the masthead. Convert to stripped-core halyards for the main, spinnaker and jib. If you really want to get picky, you can strip the paint off your mast and have it anodized. All that should be left is a bare mast with 3 halyards and a windex. You might even consider going to smaller shrouds from the oversized ones that J30s were made with.
Have fun....
[This message has been edited by Alan Grim (edited 12-29-2001).]
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Re: Backstay
#2219
12/29/01 01:55 PM
12/29/01 01:55 PM
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Anonymous
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Unregistered
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Anonymous
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Thanks Alan. Already checked with the handicapper - it would appear to be okay. Also have copied the J24 fleet already to a certain degree although I don't believe that removing the tuff-luff and using hanks would decrease weight... hanks for a J30 are pretty big and heavy.
Here's a question - how tight is your backstay when the control lines are fully eased? I personally try to keep mine very loose...
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Re: Backstay
#2222
12/31/01 06:49 PM
12/31/01 06:49 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 104 Lake Stevens, WA, USA
Alan Grim
Senior Member
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 104
Lake Stevens, WA, USA
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Michael - I have not actually compared the weight of hanks vs a tuff luff but, in order to be competitive in the J24 fleet, you need hanks. Maybe its because of the ease in taking down the headsail and the control of the sail on deck. Maybe its weight. Maybe its both. Whatever the case, on a proportionally identical boat, the benefit should be the same.
If the rig is set up as described in the Sailmakers rigging guides (max rake and all that), then the backstay is almost unnecessary under 12-15 knots. So, it should be very loose to start with. Thats the way ours is setup. I have some considerable roach in our North mainsail. So much so that I have to push aft on the backstay to get the main to go through in light air. So a loose backstay is required.
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Re: Backstay
#2223
06/17/02 03:09 PM
06/17/02 03:09 PM
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Regarding the discussion of the backstay setup on J/29s: I haven't seen the specific setup you mention where the backstay is "... threaded through an 18" batten to keep the backstay away from the roach of the sail..." I would encourage anyone considering this sort of setup to seriously consider the loads involved. With a slack backstay or in light airs it may be fine, but if a blow of any sort comes up it sounds like you could tear up your sail badly or even compromise the rig. Just a thought.
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Re: Backstay
#2224
06/17/02 06:20 PM
06/17/02 06:20 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 124 New York, NY, USA
dwl
Senior Member
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 124
New York, NY, USA
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If the batten deal is what's commonly done on sports boats, I don't see how you could compromise the rig. The normal arrangement is to place a batten fore/aft the length of the crane, and extending aft some distance. (A few feet, in general) The batten has a cotter ring (middling heavy) which is put through a hole drilled a short way into the batten (At the extreme aft end) You then lead the backstay off the crane, through the cotter ring and down to the normal attach point. (The standard split tail on the J/30, one rather assumes)
With the backstay off, the batten stays straight, pulling the backstay aft and out past the roach of the main. As you load up the backstay, the batten bends, and the backstay loads up normally. Once you've put any degree of tension on the backstay, the backstay is in normal alignment, and the batten's bent, with the full load merely running past the cotter ring.
Having seen this on the Melges-24, and other sport boats, I've been tempted to try it out. Given that you never end up with a discontigous backstay, I fail to see it as a rig compromising issue. The major reason I haven't done it yet is that seems to me that it's going to be much harder to replace a failed batten on a J/30 thana melges-24. (When you break a batten in the rigs, in the worst case, you end up with the broken batten in an annoying place. You can easily cut it free and let the portion with the cotter ring slide down the backstay. Putting a new batten on, in theory, wouldn't be too hard, but I don't know that I want someone up the rig with the backstay off. (Which is needed, at some point, when it's time to re-rig the backstay onto the replacement batten.)
- David
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