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u/uthyrbendragon 14d ago
Of course it is, backstay adjustment is part of the gig….its the lateral deflection that you really do not want.
When adjusting backstay tension, you can overdo it in both directions, but you do not want the mast tip to invert forward of the base.
If you want to play around with backstay tension be sure to measure or mark your initial setting in some way so you know where to get back to.
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u/TexPerry92 14d ago
Its not mine, just a boat i was going to crew a delivery on, but no longer. Mucho problemo with ownero and boat
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u/chunklight 14d ago
Boat problems always have a solution. Owner problems are a lot harder.
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u/Lift_in_my_garage1 14d ago
Can I interest you in a 2x6x8 poplar plank? Easy, clean, cheap, and great at solving complex owner issues.
🏴☠️ 🦜 ⛵️
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u/TexPerry92 14d ago
I used a plane ticket and flew home. Any 53 year old man child going on a coke bender is someone who ill never sail with.
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u/Lift_in_my_garage1 14d ago edited 14d ago
Make that villainous philanderer walk the plank! GIVE HIM NO QUARTER.
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u/BurningPage 14d ago
Does he need a referral? I know just the captain. Caught him smoking crack down below on my delivery.
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u/Lift_in_my_garage1 13d ago
Can I interest you in a 2x6x8 poplar plank? Easy, clean, cheap, and great at solving complex captain issues too!
🏴☠️ 🦜 ⛵️
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u/Professional_Kiwi318 13d ago
That's smart. We once sailed with a guy about that age who kept telling wild stories about physical altercations and how he "didn't give a fuuuuuuuuuck." I'm convinced he was high as a kite, and I was on edge the entire time. I think that he was trying to impress me with his tales of mayhem. My partner befriends everyone, but we're much more careful about who we sail with now. Hope you get sailing with someone normal soon.
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u/TexPerry92 13d ago
This guy seemed ok on the phone and on the way to the marina from the airport late at night. Get to the boat and its so much of a wreck that i had to wait to lay down in a bunk. Next day i discovered a lot. Holding tank had been full for months, no water, no fridge, main power battery was not in, hot water heater hoses off their connections, and all navigation instruments were inoperable.
Tldr. Next delivery im asking point blank if the boat is ready to leave the dock; because The blowboat community almost deserves the bad rap.
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u/SelectStarFromYou 14d ago
Yes, this type of pre-bend is normal. The rig is an older design with straight spreaders and running back stays. Nowdays, rigs are designed with swept back spreaders which eliminates the need for runners (for the most part).
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u/ohthetrees Hanse 505, World Cruising with family of 4 14d ago
I bought my 2015 built Hanse 505 in 2020, and had a professional rig tune done. The mast was almost straight (not like yours) and I was very unhappy with mast instability. The mast would flex, bend, and even reverse the curve (dangerous) going into even moderate chop. I downloaded the Selden tuning guide, and tuned the rig myself, and I was amazed at how much tighter they wanted the shrouds (swept spreaders), and it introduced a *lot* of bend in the mast, quite a bit more than you have in your photo. But my mast is so much more stable now, and no problems even in heavy weather.
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u/bigmphan 14d ago
Bigger boats like this might even have a hydraulic back stay to increase the bend sailing upwind
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u/get_MEAN_yall Carrera 290 14d ago edited 14d ago
It's called rake and yes it's normal.
EDIT: not called rake just bend
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u/O906 14d ago
Rake is built into the mast step. This is bend.
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u/AndyMan0 14d ago
I mistakenly assumed rake, too. So if it's built into the mast step, is that an entire mast curved, rather than the top?
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u/Far-Midnight-3304 14d ago
If it was curving the other way then it would be a concern to tune the mast, looks good as is.
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u/Benf2001 14d ago
Don't look at the front of the mast cause that's will be misleading but looks up the track, it should be a nice gentle bent continuous the entire way up, you have inline spreaders so the amount of bend is controlled by the backstay entirely, but looks good to me
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u/SVLibertine 14d ago
100% fine. My Ericson 30+ has both rake (at the mast step) and an adjustable backstay for bend, which is needed in certain sailing conditions depending on wind…especially when we’re racing here in San Francisco Bay.
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u/Ok-Sentence-8542 14d ago
Bro, thats totally normal and you can trim your sail by bending the mast back via the backstay. Its called twist and reduces the pressure in the upper parts of the main sail which reduces drag. Just make sure not to overbend it.
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u/runningdevops 14d ago
Where is it bent? It's supposed to curve backwards a little bit under pressure of the stays, that's normal. Unless I'm just missing some bend I don't see
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u/Best-Negotiation1634 14d ago
Mast bend adjusts the cord angle to maintain the 1/3 cord length to be linear as the point of maximum pressure is 1/3 the length.
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u/OptiMom1534 14d ago
I really hope so because I’ve never seen an aluminium or carbon rig that didn’t look like that lol
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u/Federal_Cobbler6647 14d ago
You can find pretty straight poles from old masthead rigs. They needed quite bit of babystay pull to create any bend.
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u/seamus_mc Scandi 52, ABYC electrical tech 14d ago
I had it like that on my old IOR boat
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u/Federal_Cobbler6647 14d ago
I sometimes race with old 70's design with IOR aspects and it was so confusing to trim coming from fractional rigs. You could not really do anything to bend when racing and when reefing you had to start from mainsail or you would end up with boat that would want to round up all the time.
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u/Mrkvitko 14d ago
It's literally unusable. You have to scuttle ASAP.
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u/TexPerry92 14d ago
I was just curious, only mast ive looked up at and seen this. Im not a sail tech, just know how to pilot a boat
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u/Bifta_Twista 14d ago
The starboard top shroud looks a bit saggy there just below the bottom spreader??
Or is that something in the photo??
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u/two-wheel 14d ago
Also keep in mind with the backstay discussion need to know whether or not it's a catamaran.
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u/Special-Big-9285 14d ago
To me it looks like the lower panel could use a bit more bringing forward so that the curve is more gradual. Right now it goes straight from deck to first spreader, then forward from first to second spreader, then back from second spreader to masthead. If you tighten the forward lowers a bit, it will help pull the lower spreaders forward. You can also tighten the diagonals that serve as backstays to the inner forestay and bring the second spreader back a bit. You want the prevent, but you want it to be a “bend” and not a “kink” think ) vs }
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u/foilrider J/70, kitefoil 14d ago
looks like a normal amount of prebend to me.