MacGregorSailors.com

I'm new to this only having my MacM in the water for the last part of the season of 07 so please bear with my ignorance.. Now that I have the mast down and the boat covered in the driveway I'm looking at the forestay and CDI furler and realize that is the only thing keeping the mast up.. has anyone rigged a "safety" line in case the forestay fails? Last season I fooled around with the main and did some lazy sailing but never used the genoa .. I plan to take some lessons this year but I would imagine if a safety line was to be rigged it would have to be setup so it would not interfere with the genoa. Has anyone done this?

Most sailboats have zero redundancy in critical standing rigging like stays and shrouds. The options are

- always cleat off your furler line and hope that it slows the mast plunge somewhat
- Tie off the jib halyard, if it isnt in use
- Rig a second forestay for safety.

For the last option, see here

I have a furler on the forestay of our 02X. I broke the original forestay and now use the jib halyard as a backup. It is used for mast raising and then not needed, so I tie one end to the bow pulpit and cleat the other on the mast. It is now out of the way but providing backup for the replacement forestay. I mean, its there, might as well be useful.

I can't recall anyone ever reporting an actual failure of the forestay or its mounting hardware.

The only thing I have ever heard of (and in one case, seen) was the forestay turnbuckle unscrewing due to failure to properly pin it.

Someone lost one last year (Chris?) when the swage at the top of the mast let go IIRC..

Either it's now a cutter rig or a sloop with a backup forestay . . .your choice

The 1/8" forestay cable has a breaking load above 2,000 lbs. Also, keep in mind that when sailing, your genoa will actually pull the mast forward, thus the force on the forestay is a lot less than you would think. The shrouds actually take most of the load. Now there is an option of going to a rig shop and having a 5/32" forestay made, which will bring the breaking strength to 3300 lbs. Also, a quality shop will create a much better swage than the factory. I had this done, but my primary reason was to stiffen, as well as shorten the forestay. Going back to the fact that the shrouds carry most of the load, and provided one doesn't replace the shrouds, the added safety in upgrading the forestay is probably minimal. As previously mentioned, the jib/spinnaker halyard can be used for added redundancy. I tried this and for some reason can't avoid getting the jib caught on the halyard when furling. The halyard was well in front of the forestay, shackled to the bow rail. Others here reported using this system without issues.

Leon

Cutter rig, 4-6ft bowsprit , Ida sailor rudders . move Genny out on bowsprit 3-4ft , move spin out to 4-6ft on bowsprit . believe me you'll be amazed !! not for the faint of hearted , but very exciting sailing & you'll be heavily penalized for it but you will smoke em !!!!!
this mod is not as costly to do on an 26X or 26M as it is on an 19M

J

I guess I'll have to do it myself to prove it !!!!!!!!



J

John,

What do you do with the bow pulpit? Modify or replace or is the whole outer forestay set up so that your furler sits above the rail?

john did you beef up the bow area in order to take the bowsprit?,ive been looking at cutter rigs(you have my head buzing on doing this to my 26x)
so if anyone out there is doing it to a 26x,detailed photos would be nice

i also use the redundant jib halyard to act as a safety device but im also looking at doing johns storm jib mod,by running a steel rope from the mast to the deck to take the storm jib would also act as a back up to the furler

You could worry yourself a lot but let me tell you that it is not much of a problem if you are very carefull lowering the mast and not binding the roller fuller at the top.

I stored my 06 M mast up, put over 3500 miles on it, about 1/3 of the time at speeds over 13 mph and quite often in winds over 15, on the SW coast of Fl. I had a few strands broken and it was replaced. You can get a forstay for less than $ 75 from BWY. Many people have told me that this is a tough little boat. I go out in weather that the bigger boats do not.

Just inspect every time the mast goes down and keep a spair and if it really gets rough and you are worried, Take in the jib and tie it down, either with the haylard or a line around the roller fuler to keep it from bucking so much.

Your biggest problem is getting enough time on your boat.

Leon

I moved the jib halyard pulley up the mast about four inches. I felt the pulley was hitting the top of the furler and interfering with its rotation. The seperation keeps the halyard out of the way when it is ties off to the bow pulpit.

The reason I do this is after I broke the forestay I had a new one made at a local dealer. The guy who normally made up cables was on vacation so the owner made the cable. No knowing how current he was on cable making, I have always worried about his swages. For peace of mind I use the back up and carry a spare forestay.


Ken

This is what I do....



G

So nice to see a shiny new Mac without any dings or scratches