[Rhodes22-list] More IMF Furling Advice

[Stephen Staum]

David & All,

The only warning I would give, particularly to the newbies, is a  
caution about leaving the shrouds loose. When I got my '87 I left the  
shrouds loose on the mooring thinking I was giving them a break &  
proceeded to loose 2 forestays in 2 years - one lost under sail! The  
strength of the shrouds & stays is in tension & they get hammered when  
loose. I now keep them all under constant tension (hand tight) w no  
problems for 5 years.

Stephen Staum
87 R22, Carol Lee

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 17, 2010, at 3:52 PM, David Culp <dculp at hsbtx.com> wrote:

> Hi Mary Lou:
>
> The simple answer to your question is:  hand tight.
>
> The complicated discussion for our newest owners and listees:
>
> I always let the tension off the back stays when the boat is in the  
> slip
> remembering that we have a cabin stepped mast.  A former owner used  
> the
> analogy of a "bow and arrow" which I think is valid, so I don't  
> leave the
> "arrow" under tension when the boat is just sitting.  I believe the  
> record
> shows that if someone over tightens the stays, especially the back  
> stays and
> the aft uppers, that they are putting a lot of leverage and pressure  
> on the
> back of the cabin top; and because the internal bulkhead doesn't  
> reach all
> the way back under the mast step, they in essence, are breaking the  
> cabin
> top backwards over the bulkhead.  This is no longer an issue for me,  
> because
> I installed a center-post just aft of the bulkhead right under the  
> mast
> step.  I am now transferring some of the load to the bottom hull  
> structure.
> I suspect that a former owner of my boat (there were several) got a  
> little
> carried away on stay tension; didn't follow Stan's advice about hand- 
> tight
> only and the result was that I had to do some small repairs and  
> installed
> the post to make sure that it was no longer an issue.
>
> I end up always tightening the back stays before I go sail, because  
> if the
> forestay is just a little too slack, then the old GBI furler just  
> doesn't
> work as well.  You have a Schaefer furler if memory serves and so  
> perhaps
> you can adjust your jib luff tension with a separate halyard?   
> Conversely,
> if I find I need more draft in the jib on slacker days, I just  
> loosen the
> backstay adjuster to reduce tension on the jib luff.  Just another  
> nice
> adjusting feature Stan designed in.
>
> When I raise the mast, here is what I do to prevent problems:   I  
> tighten
> all the lowers hand-tight only making sure that I get the mast up as
> straight as possible.   Then I loosen the forward uppers a little  
> and put
> tension on the back stay to make sure the slack is out of the  
> forestay.
> This puts a slight rearward rake in the still straight mast which I  
> find on
> my boat helps balance the helm under sail. Then once satisfied with  
> that, I
> tighten the forwards again and then the outer shrouds (always hand  
> tight
> only) and then use the dastardly Loos gauge to make sure that the  
> tension is
> the same on both outer shrouds.  The Loos measurement on the outer,  
> lower
> shrouds is the only one I bother to check and it was a mere 120 lbs.  
> as of
> yesterday.  That is hand tight, virtually nothing and barely on the  
> scale.
>
> The last step of course is to actually sail the boat in a moderate  
> wind on
> both tacks and watch to see what happens.  If I find a leeward  
> shroud is
> swinging in the wind, then I will tighten it up just a bit, so that  
> it has
> zero tension and not quite swinging in the breeze when the windwards  
> are at
> full tension.  I must be getting better at it, because I test sailed  
> the
> boat yesterday in the above mentioned conditions and I was so  
> pleased with
> the setup that I have already put the cotter pins in the turn- 
> buckles and
> hopefully they won't have to be touched again until the next time I  
> pull the
> boat.
>
> In summary, I have concluded that the upper shrouds only purpose in  
> life is
> to keep the mast from falling down.  Therefore, hand-tightening is  
> always
> sufficient.  The back stays are adjustable and their purpose is to  
> just take
> the slack out of the forestay when sailing and no more.   The outer  
> shrouds
> are on levers (spreaders) and they pickup a lot of the sail load when
> sailing and help keep the top of the mast from bending off.  So when  
> the
> boat is at rest, they don't have to be more then hand-tight either.   
> My
> observation with my setup is that when I am sailing in moderate wind  
> and I
> have the back stay tightened up to keep the jib luff tight-that you  
> do get a
> little rearward bend off of the mast.  So I was passing on to  
> Charlie and
> others that our masts actually bend off more then we think and it  
> can impede
> the proper operation of the IMF-which requires a straight mast to  
> operate
> properly.
>
> Yesterday, because of the euphoria of having pretty much hit it on  
> the money
> the first time and also impending heat exhaustion (why do I always  
> pick the
> hottest day of the year to launch?), I forgot to loosen the back  
> stays and
> the IMF was not cooperating properly when I tried rolling it in.   
> Releasing
> the back stays solved the problem.
>
> Sincerely and you guys can have your hot weather back up there!
>
> David
>
>
>
> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:01:03 -0400
> From: Mary Lou Troy <mtroy at atlanticbb.net>
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] More IMF Furling Advice
> To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Message-ID: <D3.50.09230.BAA404C4 at BL-206>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> David,
> We tighten our backstay adjuster once a year when we launch the boat.
> We've never loosened the backstay for furling the main. How tight are
> your forward lower stays?
>
> Mary Lou
> 1991 R22 Fretless
> Rock Hall, MD
>
>
> At 12:36 AM 7/16/2010, you wrote:
>> This is for Charlie in Dallas... You can learn from my mistake today.
>>
>> You said you are having trouble furling the IMF.  The other advice  
>> everyone
>> gave is  good and something else that you might try is to remember  
>> to take
>> the tension off the back stays before you roll the IMF in.  I guess  
>> I knew
>> that , but forgot to do it today the first time and it makes a  
>> world of
>> difference.  First time - problems.  Take tension off back stays - no
>> problems.  That mast bends more then we give it credit for.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> David
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