How to tension furler forestay?
Posted by steelerector1986@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 31 comments
I purchased my trailer-sailer with this double forestay rig from someone who didn't know much about the rig, and I'm having trouble figuring out how to properly tension my furler stay to get any luff tension. I'm thinking the tensioning lever forestay is supposed to be an aid to get the furler stay to it's hole, but then I don't understand what's supposed to happen to the tensioned stay. If I slack it off after I make the furler connection, the whole rig gets loose and that stay just kind of flaps around.
d-man0101@reddit
That's a CDI FF2 furler... I have the same thing on my boat. The turnbuckle to tension the headstay is inside the drum. You have to remove the pin that holds the foil, then slide it up to gain access to the internals of the drum, at which point you'll have access to the turnbuckle to tension it.
Successful_Cod_8904@reddit
Does your furler also connect to the turnbuckle with a shackle as in OP's set up? Suspect that this is jury rigged.
d-man0101@reddit
That shackle isn't part of the forestay/turnbuckle mechanism. It's an attachment point for the halyard. Here's how mine looks. The halyard is tied off to a shackle on one side of the drum cover, then goes up through an internal groove in the foil, around a block inside the swivel cap at the top of the forestay, then back down through another internal groove on the other side of the foil and is tensioned onto the other shackle.
https://imgur.com/a/Fm23TxO
https://imgur.com/a/eIFfGA7
Successful_Cod_8904@reddit
Thank you, interesting furler system.
d-man0101@reddit
in fact, here OP, you can have the manual in PDF format.
https://amber-honey-48.tiiny.site/
BlahBlahBlackCheap@reddit
Good luck. These trailer boats often don’t have much interior structure which provides rigidity to carry sail and rig loads at optimum tensions. The fiberglass is light so it’s easy to trailer. Hull to deck joints are poorly executed on many. Do the best you can but don’t expect perfection is my usual motto. If the sails are ragged out, upgrading to newer sails will help a lot.
Successful_Cod_8904@reddit
Age is also a factor in this. I have turnbuckle adjustable wire inside from shroud deck plate bolts to lower point on bulkhead.
haroldslackenoffer@reddit
Go to the Selden website and download their mast tuning guide. It has good general instructions. Follow instructions for fractional rigs.
Mundane-Cause-8151@reddit
Harden the halyard . . .
jefferatorator@reddit
I thought so too, but if you look close it is rigged all crazy. For some reason they left a couple feet at the end of the stick unused
FarAwaySailor@reddit
I agree with others about the extra stay, but also bear in mind that luff tension is provided by the foresail halyard not the stay tension.
SlipMeA20@reddit
Not with a furler. The stay has to be tight.
daysailor70@reddit
Tighten the backstay. The amount of adjustment on a furler is minimal and you will most likely have to disassemble the furler.
texasrigger@reddit
That's a CDI furler. There's a conventional turnbuckle under there. It has the same amount of adjustment as any other stay on that boat. To adjust it, the sail has to be removed and then a pin that joins the drum to the foil needs to be removed. That let's the drum and torsion tube assembly slide up the foil and exposes the turnbuckle. CDI's are garbage furlers but they are easy to adjust.
Ok-Science-6146@reddit
This would be the correct advice if it were the correct furler he were using
LameBMX@reddit
fractional rig. shrouds do a lot of that work.
Possible_Main2264@reddit
I can’t think of a reason why this is setup with two forestays, the CDI should already have in internally. Is one simply a spare that needs to come off? Also, can’t quite tell, is there a threaded turnbuckle on the CDI?
Usual_Yak_300@reddit
Good eye. I didn't see the 2nd
Possible_Main2264@reddit
Upon further zoomification I don’t see a turnbuckle on the CDI. They may have purchased a unit that doesn’t fit your boat properly. You need that turnbuckle for tension.
djfoundation@reddit
I don't think two forestays is doing you any favors. I have a CDI FF2 on mine - Unspool the drum (furling) line and remove it. There's a pin at the top of the furler drum boot (the black rubber piece that the extrusion fits into). Undo the quick ring and pull it out, then you can slide the boot up out of the barrel and access the threaded turnbuckle inside the drum.
There should be enough length (\~ 1-2ft.) at the top of the halyard to slide the extrusion up the internal forestay. Looking at this pic, the extrusion seems too long for your stay length. My memory is a bit fuzzy though, my season ended in November.
Darkwaxellence@reddit
Just out of curiosity, it looks like a powering behind your boat, are you on a trailer? How far from water are you?
steelerector1986@reddit (OP)
Yea, I stepped the mast on the trailer to work on the boat at my work. It's hard to do work on the deck when there's a mast and a mess of shrouds laying across the boat.
Sracer42@reddit
Check out this CDI installation video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oU2X9sAosA&t=148s
Looks like your headstay should be inside the furler track.
Original_March_170@reddit
This is a fractional rig (the forestay not fixed at the mast head). Forestay tension is mainly achieved by adjusting the upper shrouds. Increasing tension on the backstay will not have much effect on the forestay, but will move the masthead backwards and the mid section forwards. More tension on the lowers will compensate this mast bend. If you keep increasing the tension on the shrouds then you add more vertical compression on the mast itself. A roller system, while rolled up adds a lot of weight to the forestay and his exaggerates the sag in the forestay. A sailmaker should take into account the design of the boat and rig, and cut the luff to match. That second forestay simply has a negative effect to achieving this goal.
kev-lar70@reddit
I had a similar boat years ago, and if I remember correctly (hah!) you just use halyard tension. That's considered a "wire luff" furler, so don't think of it as another forestay.
Here's the manual for mine: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1284206/O-Day-192.html "The jib halyard tension should be just slightly greater than the headstay tension." First paragraph, page 2.
Do you have any adjustment in your backstay?
jonnohb@reddit
I can't see a backstay, I'm guessing that you have swept back shrouds. You need to tighten the upper shrouds to get forestry tension, the lowers will help control mast bend. Eliminate the forward forestay as others suggested but of course make sure there actually is one running through the furler.
jh937hfiu3hrhv9@reddit
How about removing the unused forestay so the backstay can tension the proper forestay.
MWorld993@reddit
My CDI FF4 has a foil which slides over the existing forestay. To adjust tension you lift the drum up with the foil (slides on the forestay), adjust the tension using the existing turnbuckle, then lower the drum and foil and reconnect. The CDI manual is available on their website and covers how to do this.
Not sure what the second wire is for. The forestay is almost certainly running through the CDI foil. If not I’d expect the foil to be sagging more under the weight of the jib.
BamaTony64@reddit
in a fractional rig you can normally tighten the backstay a bit as well
daysailor70@reddit
Looking further, the stay with the lever is solely there to facilitate stepping the mast, the stay size is way to small to take the load. Once the forestay is properly fastened to the bow filling, release the turnbuckle and tighten the backstay.
RecalcitrantReditor@reddit
What kind of boat is it? If it has a backstay, I would start by adding tension there. Some boats have very swept back spreaders and some of it can be done there, but looking at the picture I don't think that applies here. Sometimes headsail tension is just a matter of proper halyard tension, so you could also try unfurling the sail and trying to add some.