Adjusting Forestay

[mike]

When trying to tighten my forestay today, I ran into a peculiar problem. I pushed up the roller furling unit, exposing the bottom half of the turnbuckle (it was as loose as it could get)... but after tightening it several turns, the turnbuckle developed a tendency to spin back the other way. It was as if the whole stay was being twisted as I tightened the turnbuckle.

I can't see the top part of the turnbuckle due to the furler, but I'm assuming it has some sort of swivel that is supposed to allow the turnbuckle to turn freely... I guess perhaps this swivel is somehow frozen. I sprayed some penetrating lubricant up there, but the situation did not improve.

Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks!

--Mike

[Don T]

Hello:
You will have to raise the furler enough to see the upper half of the turn buckle. There should be cotter pins through the holes in the threaded part to keep it from backing off when furling and unfurling. This usually requires pulling the pin that holds the luff from falling down through the drum.

[mike]

Hello:
You will have to raise the furler enough to see the upper half of the turn buckle. There should be cotter pins through the holes in the threaded part to keep it from backing off when furling and unfurling. This usually requires pulling the pin that holds the luff from falling down through the drum.

Thanks for the reply. I did see a cotter pin on the lower portion of the turnbuckle (in bad shape, will replace tomorrow)... but is it really possible to push the furler up enough to expose the entire turnbuckle?

--Mike

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

You have to raise the turnbuckle not only far enough to remove the cotter pin, but also high enough to put a wrench on the rod swaged to the headstay. Once you have done this, you can then tighten the turnbuckle body without any problems.

If you don't hold the end of the headstay wire you are putting rotations into the headstay itself. It sort of winds up like a spring and then when you let go it will unwind spinning the turnbuckle.

I find it is much easier to adjust everything if I unfurl the headsail first. This gets it's rolled bulk out of the way and lets the drum slide up easily once you remove the foil pin. Be sure to put the cotter pins or rings back in. They are the only thing keeping your rig from falling if the drum friction inadvertantly unwinds your turnbuckle body.

[mike]

Thanks, Duane... I'll give this a shot.

--Mike

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

And if you "wind up" the stay too much without holding it from spinning, you may start breaking the outer strands of the cable itself. This is not a good thing, especially on the Mac forestay which keeps the mast from falling on your head.

[Steve K]

Mike,
You have to remove the luff support pin, to raise the drum enough to expose all the turnbuckle. See the pdf file below.

http://www.sailcdi.com/sailpdf/FF2_403.pdf

On page 2 of the manual (page 4 of the pdf file) there is a drawing of the furling unit. Look for the part lettered "C" This is the luff support pin. You can clearly see this pin at the very top of the black spool. As I remember, it has a ringding on one end. Remove the ringding, pull the pin and then you can lift the spool high enough to expose the turnbuckle. This will also give you a good look inside the unit. You can easily clean out any dirt, while you're at it. Probably best to have the sail unfurled or off the furler completely.
Tip; I find that a dose of Sailkote (Maclube) on the bearing surfaces of the spool unit makes the sucker operate better than new. However, use only this type of lubricant. Other products will gather dirt and build up.
SK

[mike]

Thanks, Steve... that PDF is just what I needed. I was not sure if that was the pin I needed to pull.

--Mike

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Another tip: After I pull the pin and raise the furler, I tie it up using the jib halyard. You definitely don't want that thing coming down on your hand while you are fiddling with the turnbuckle.

[mike]

Another tip: After I pull the pin and raise the furler, I tie it up using the jib halyard. You definitely don't want that thing coming down on your hand while you are fiddling with the turnbuckle.

Ahhhh... that's a great idea. Thanks!

--Mike

[Steve K]

Happy I could help Mike.
SK

[Billy]

2 weeks ago while rigging for my last trip, I decided to tighten my forestay. The furler seemed to sag with the mast up. I thought maybe the wire had stretched due to a day long pounding in extremely rough conditions. When I raised the drum, I discovered the cotter pin missing and only about 3 threads left holding everything together. Needless to say, I was very lucky. When the turnbuckle was tighten to the original position, the rig was tight again--no stretching had occurred. Not having a cotter pin, I used a ringding positioned around one side of the turnbuckle. I believe the original pin sheared.

No matter how good the furler was installed, they need to be routinely inspected. (I came close to learning the hard way.)

[mike]

Thanks again for all the tips... I was successful in tightening the forestay, and got my other stays in good shape too.

Billy: wow, that's frightening... I will be sure to check the cotter pin on a regular basis.

--Mike

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

When I got my used X last June, there weren't even any cotter pins in the forestay turnbuckle! Don't think I've ever seen one come unscrewed though. I started tying my jib halyard to the bow pulpit, but its been interferring with the furler some. Will try to retie it all the way to the aft stanchion of the pulpit to see if that is better.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Get some pins in pronto. I believe there was one mast that did come down by suprise a while ago due to the turnbuckle unscrewing. I wouldn't use the boat again until they're in. It only a 10 minute job.