[Rhodes22-list] Lost My Headstay and Furler

Peter Nyberg peter at sunnybeeches.com
Thu Aug 17 22:40:45 EDT 2017


So, the old forestay was broken and I obviously needed a new one.  I looked into custom rigging web pages at West Marine and Defender, and even Dwyer.  Nothing they showed seemed to really line up with the pieces I had.  Somehow I had a gut feeling that I’d be better off dealing with an independent rigging shop.  After a quick internet search I happened on Sound Rigging Services in Essex, CT (https://www.soundrigging.com), and I decided to give them a try.

For those unfamiliar with the geography of southern New England, ‘Sound’ is a reference to Long Island Sound, the body of water between Connecticut and Long Island, NY.

I called ahead, which turned out to be a good idea as I was told that at this time of year, people are mostly working on the road.  However, I was able to make an appointment with Chuck, the owner, for the following morning.

I arrived, showed Chuck what I had, and we went out to the work area.  Chuck has a lot of inventory, and he spent a lot of time looking through bins trying to find the right bits of hardware to match what had been at the top of the mast.  The major issue was that the U shaped piece that holds the barrel of the T bolt is longer than is common for contemporary fittings.  Without having the mast, he couldn’t be sure that a shorter U shaped piece would work.  In the end, he resorted to scrounging through cardboard boxes of oddball pieces to find what he need to allow me to continue to use the original U shaped piece that we knew would work. 

Once I got back to the boat and was able able to take a closer look at the connection of the forestay to the top of the mast, I’m pretty sure that a somewhat shorter U shaped piece would work, but I couldn’t say exactly how short.

Anyway, I enjoyed the time I spent hanging around in the shop with Chuck.  He told some interesting stories while he was doing this and that.  I found the final bill to be quite reasonable.  

Having a new forestay, I was left with the task of having to reassemble the CDI furling apparatus.  I was a bit nervous about this in part because it’s never been clear to me how it really works.  The mystery was, what keeps the parts that spin attached to the piece at the bottom that doesn’t spin.  While putting everything back together it finally occurred to me that it’s just gravity.  Hopefully, that will continue to work as it has.

As I tend to do with my boat projects, I’ve made a YouTube video about this little adventure for anyone interested: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbKIYYFU73s

Thanks to all who provided insight into my issues with the forestay.

Peter Nyberg
Coventry, CT
s/v Silverheels (1988/2016)


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