Update on Nice Pear. No motion detected on the crack in my bulkhead. I purposely did NOT glass in the crack, but filled it with a mixture of epoxy mixed with hi density filler. This way I can monitor the stresses in the bulkhead. Nothing is moving so far, however, I am keeping track of the bolt tightness. I filled the bulkhead with Get Rot, and epoxy and so far nothing is moving. Some very strong suggestions. Anyone still sailing with the original shrouds should replace them. Suggest the Hall open body turnbuckles. Strongly suggest replacing the chainplates with larger chainplates using 316 grade stainless. Russ has the idea. Bad idea to reuse the stainless that came with the boat as it is 302 grade which has LOTS of ferrite in the alloy. They are also too small to take the loads. Finally, anyone who sails with 1800 lbs on the rig is crazy. My settings are currently 1300 lbs on the uppers and 1100 on the lowers. Been out in 20+ and NO slack observed in the leeward shrouds. When the rig is at the correct tension, the lowers should be just "kissing" slackness. I believe this is not helping the bulkhead situation in our boats. In 15 kts we were both higher and faster than the other '30 in our area. I suspect that the proper "base setting" is around 1100 on uppers and 900 on lowers, with 1500 uppers 1500 lowers the "storm setting" that should be reduced when the boat is put away. Overtensioning the rigs may be why the J-30s are getting a bad rap in light air. Tight rigs are certaintly not helping the bulkhead problems. The swept back spreader rigs that Rod made famous are great for getting rid of running backstays, however, a fractional sail plan still requires management of the mast shape for the conditions. Adjustment of the shrouds between races is the compromise.
