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Try moving the backstay to the top hole in that chain plate.

The backstay adjuster is adjustable, can't you adjust it?


How tight do you have your forestay turned buckle turned in?
Perhaps you can back it off a little.

One thing I know for sure - If you can break anything on your standing rigging
with mere muscle force it isn't going to hold up in real wind.

Every spring I put up the mast in the driveway and yank hang dangle push shake bang bake wiggle shove ram cram
the entire standing rig around by full body force to make sure shes stout. Learned the hard way.

The neighbors think me spring mad...

So I'm still messing around with the rigging since I still just feel it isn't right. I measured out all the rigging and it all appears the correct length. What I find though is my forstay turnbuckle is almost all the way extended to the point that it is gonna come apart. My question is I noticed where my uppershroud connects to the mast (tang?) The metal runs parallel with the mast. In the manual it appears to angle back. Should this be angled or should it be loose enough to move? Or does this not actually even matter.

That's the problem. Those tangs for the shrouds should move freely on the bolt through the mast.

The other common problem is to have a shroud thimble twisted in the tang so that you lose an inch or more of shroud length. It's possible to rig like this but the force required will be large and will probably bend something

Thanks for the reply. When I saw this my first thought was that would give me at least a few more in of forward lean on the mast. Just wanted to confirm before I did any "adjustments"

About your backstay,

The backstay does not play a part in holding your rig up. The backstay takes load when running before the wind. Do not use your backstay to adjust rig tension ie. correct a loose forestay. If you do this your shrouds (side stays) will be to loose and there are plenty of threads on how that can lead to mast failure. There are plenty of threads on tensioning your rig and they helped me immensely. Basically you should disconnect the backstay and set your mast rake and rig tension with the forestay turnbuckle and the chainplates on the shrouds. What you describe with your turnbuckle being out all the way is disconcerting.

The adjustable backstays or running backstays use a system of blocks and lines these allow you to take the tension off completely when raising or lowering pretty much any time the wind isn't loading the mast from behind.

I wouldn't sail with it disconnected because as the wind clocks around from directly abeam to dead aft the load increases accordingly BUT I always pop the ring ding and pin undoing the backstay when stepping the mast because it's just that much easier to pin the forestay. When I'm rigged it's easy to pin the backstay and there seems to be only minimal tension but it's enough to make the pinning the forestay troublesome. If there's any twist or kink in your backstay pinning the forestay becomes nearly impossible.

If any of this doesn't make sense just search the forum. I believe there is an article in the resources section at the top of the homepage, and of course the manuals cover basic rig tension in a way that can be applied to almost every model.

I'm glad you're figuring it out.

My first rig was with a friend helping, then I saw some ads etc and tried to raise the mast myself without help or a mast raising system. I didn't get it far and the damage from the drop was minimal but the gooseneck punched a hole in my deck

Live and learn, the family works as a team and we rig and derig our in just over the 30 minute mark. It would be quicker without a furler be that's the price of convenience on the water

Have fun,

Willy

I don't have any fancy mast raising gear and this is how I done it.
Disconnect the rear stay, trust me it makes a big difference.
Slide boom up off mast to make a little lighter, loosen mainsheet and set boom to the side, you don't need to disconnect sail or anything else.
Put a bucket on rear pulpit railing and prop mast up on bucket for extra leverage. (tie bucket to boat if on water it gonna fall out when you lift mast.)
Nearly ready make sure the side stays and other lines aren't going to tangle or your gonna have to start again or have someone else jumping around untangling.
close hatches.
Stand in cockpit and lift mast up over shoulder. Get someone else strong to grab the front stay and I also use the jib sheet line, one in each hand to stabilize any side-to side action (this can be bad if mast breaks free to one side).
You may need to step up onto the top deck while lifting and someone else pulling.
Continue to stabilize mast even once vertical.
At this point I usually immediately tie jib sheet line to railing or cleat and then fasten front stay.
Fasten rear stay and slide boom back on.
Tighten front stay and check all stays for proper tension.
GO Sail!