lenny's staysail

[balthazor]

Lenny,m I hve some questions about you staysail arrangment you
wrote about in the newsletter. I got the deck plans for the 382
from Brewer, but quite a bit is slightly different than on my
boat. He shows the staysail track on the cabin top, but no
indication of where to put an inboard track on the deck. He has
a padeye for runners by the main chains and another way back on
the outer portaion of the deck, just forward of the cockpit
coming. So--exactly where is your inboard track--how far out
from the cabin side, for instance, and how long did you make it?
Also, how high up from the spreaders is the stay attachment for
the inner stay? How are the runners attached to the mast? Where
do the runners attach on deck and what sort of tackle do you use
to tighten them? I guess I will get a sail plan from Brewer, as
well, but I would like to hear your situation. Thanks. Also,
thanks again for doing this page and the newsletter. It is the
only "web" site I use, but I like it alot. WE all owe you a
debt of gratitude.

 

[barefoot]

<div>Terry, I'll answer your questions as best I can -- my boat has been hauled for the winter about 250 miles from where I sit, so it's hard to give exact answers. In addition, the rig was designed by the former owner, an engineer, and the parts custom built for him. I don't think he knew Ted Brewer had drawings available.About the staysail track, I believe (am I right?) that Morgan offered an inner track as an option so that you could sheet a number 2 or 3 (that is, smaller) genoa further inboard to improve pointing angle. My inner track is about even with the shroud bases; that is, if you continued the track another six inches forward, it would hit the base of the aft lower shroud. (It extends all the way aft as far as it can go--but that's useless for the staysail.) With my car all the way forward on the track, the sheet angle is just right for my staysail when hard on the wind. Falling off (that is, easing the sheet), results in too much twist in the sail, and I rig a second sheet to the sail from the upper shroud turnbuckle--not elegant, but it works.I'm afraid that not being able to get to the boat any time soon, I can't answer your question about how high above the spreaders to attach the inner forestay and the running backstays. In any case, it would different on your M-382 than on my M-383 because my mast is higher (and I assume the spreaders are higher too). You might be able to work out the geometry yourself. In essence, what you want is for the inner forestay to exactly parallel the original (outer) forestay. I imagine that Brewer has the height on his drawing (which I believe is for an M-382).

The fitting on the mast for the inner forestay is held in place (in part) by a large bolt that goes through the mast athwartships (side to side). There are tangs attached to the bolt and the running back stays attach to the tangs. The backstays are mostly (rather light duty) stainless multi-strand cable, ending in a four-part rope block and tackle'that attaches to the large aft docking cleats (all the way back). The surveyor who went over my boat before I bought it recommended installing dedicated padeyes a foot or two forward of those cleats. I should think that anywhere aft of the cabin house would be OK.Hope this helps. Lenny
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[balthazor]

thanks for the info. I am not going to do this right away; I did something else that works but I am not sure yet how much I like it. I had a detachable inner "solent stay" installed just aft of the roller furler unit, and forward of the anchor locker. The attachment goes all the way through the deck and is bolted to the stem on the outside. I run a big genoa on the roller (150, needs to be cut down to 130 or 135, I have decided). We mostly lhave light wind where I cruise. But, for bigger blows, I hank on my working jib to the solent stay, and keep the big jib rolled. I have thought about this kind of system for some time before I had the Morgan and finally implemented it. Having only used the solent stay two times, and each conditions where wind was 30 knots and gusting to 40, I am not sure what I think. The boat surely kept sailing and was well balanced. But, the inner stay does sag quite a bit and, for best performance, I should have the little jib recut or build a new one. The reason I did this was primarily to expand my options without having to run two headsails together and to keep a big jib for all the light air. I particularly do not like unrolling the big jib just to douse it and then putting the little jib on the roller--although that isn't really that hard, it is a bother if you are sitting at anchor or at dock and decide before you leave you want to change jibs. I will keep this for a while, but if I went off shore seriously, I think I would go to the system you have.
I am going to write to Brewer for sail plans; he sold me the deck layout plans for $20.