Ed,
Do you have any close-up pictures of your fiberglass poles? How are they mounted to the stern pulpits? These fiberglass poles must eliminate the need for shock chord.
Any help on how to improve is a help.
Rich Canning
Spellbound
> Additional comments on runners from IXXIS, Olson 911S sailing in SF Bay..
>
> Richard's comments are good. I would add the following.
>
> I use high tech fiber lines for the runners, with a single block spliced
on
> about two feet above the deck level. The runners are rigged with a two to
> one sheet from the center of the boat either side of the backstay., This
> prevents the runners from twisting the mast when tightened. In addition,
I
> mounted nine foot fiberglass rods ( about 3/8 D) on both stern pulpit
> corners, with a ring spliced to the end of the rod. The runners each run
> through their ring, which keeps the runners aft and away from the boom
when
> relaxed and prevenrts the runners from ever fouling on the boom. Works
like
> a dream.
>
> Ed
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Canning" <rcanning@dimeo.com>
> To: <olson911@SailPix.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 11:52 AM
> Subject: Re: checkstay questions
>
>
> > The checkstay is used to add power back to the main when there is
> sufficient
> > backstay on that de-powers the main. The backstay is needed to tighten
the
> > headstay and give you pointing ability as the wind picks up. The down
side
> > is it de-powers the main when you put on backstay. Therefore the ability
> to
> > straighten the mast back up with a checkstay allows you to re-power the
> main
> > back up. Sometimes it will look like a serious backwind bubble in the
> > main.Keep in mind that in more extreme wind conditions we want the main
> > de-powered. We try to fly the battens only in blade conditions. We do
have
> a
> > light to moderate amount of checkstay on in those conditions.
> >
> > The downside to checkstays is sailing downwind. The original MORC design
> was
> > a wire line from the bottom spreader and was lead to an adjustable genoa
> car
> > on the deck just inboard and aft of the shrouds. It had a 1 to 1 line to
> > tighten it. The problem with this design was you have to pull both on in
> > order not to pull the mast of center and their angle is not very
> efficient.
> > The beauty of them is that they are not in the way when sailing down
wind.
> > We moved the checkstay location on the mast to between the spreaders.
They
> > were then lead aft to either side of the backstay. This means you need a
> > shock chord retainer system to pull them out of the way when released
down
> > wind. You also have to flip them out of the way when gibing the boom
down
> > wind. They add tremendous ability to add power to the main. This really
> > helps upwind by re-powering the main and adding shape. There are pros
and
> > cons to each solution but I prefer my setup.
> >
> > We also found a need to have eye straps over the ball fitting on the
mast
> to
> > keep them from accidentally coming out of the mast. This happened once
on
> > the way to a regatta where the ball fitting somehow popped out and we
sent
> > someone up in the chair to reattach it. Now the eye strap prevents them
> from
> > popping out.
> >
> > Rich Casnning
> > Speelbound
> >
> >
> >
>
Received on Wed Mar 26 07:37:21 2003