Aftstay and forestay sag

[Faith25]

Hello to all I bought a 1981 cal 25 MKII not to long ago and took it out on a sail for the first time yesterday, great sailing and a great boat. Once back on the slip I noticed the forestay and aftstay are slack, and the foreshrouds tight.
I have a roller furler and couldnt check my forestay turnbuckle. Any suggestions from anyone with experience on this boats.

[knothead]

Faith, if you are happy with the way the boat sails. Then you just need to tighten up the rigging.
If there is plenty of adjustment in the turnbuckles, just take up a few turns on each of them.
Some headstays are fixed length, but most of them will have a turnbuckle inside that furler. It may be a bit troublesome, but it's usually not too difficult to access the turnbuckle. And it's not a bad idea to get familiar with it and to make sure all the screws turn and maybe lube it if it's applicable.
You will have to drop the sail of course.

When I tune a rig, I will usually set the headstay length and then tune the rest of the rig.

If you have never done that kind of thing, it might be a good idea to work with a rigger for the first time so that you will be able to take care of it yourself in the future.

What kind of furler do you have?

[chucklesR]

Knothead is a professional, so I'll let him do the specific advise part.

I like the DIY approach, but I will echo him on one part - for the first time AT LEAST get a professional.
Rigging is an essential part of the boat, and the soundness of it has a safety aspect as well as a large performance benefit.

Check online for owner groups for Cal's - someone out there surely has a .pdf file of the owners manual with the original specifications for the rig. Both yahoo and google host a lot of free user moderated groups like that.

[Faith25]

Thanks Knothead I'll check to see if my headstay has a turnbuckle. Do I have to get the headsail out of the furler to raise the drum?
I don't know what furler I have of the top my head and I forgot all my manuals on the boat.
I figured it is the headstay that got loose since the foreshrouds are very tight now.
I'll also take your advise and get a rigger to show me since its my first time.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by Faith25

Thanks Knothead I'll check to see if my headstay has a turnbuckle. Do I have to get the headsail out of the furler to raise the drum?
I don't know what furler I have of the top my head and I forgot all my manuals on the boat.
I figured it is the headstay that got loose since the foreshrouds are very tight now.
I'll also take your advise and get a rigger to show me since its my first time.

You usually do have to remove the sail to get the drum apart but not always. There are some exceptions. That's why it's important to identify what kind of furler you have.

While a good rigger is always worth his pay, there are lots of very knowledgable fellow sailors around too. Get to know some of the folks at your marina. Especially the ones that sail a lot and have well kept boats. Many folks tune their own rigs and some of them would probably be happy to help you get familiar with yours.
Of course, there is lots of good advice and many knowledgable sailors here on SailNet too.
Post a picture of your furler and it's likely that some here will be able to identify it.

[RichH]

Your rigging tensions most probably needs to be a adjusted.

Here's the most comprehensive manual available on the internet on how to DIY... look at the section on how to tension WITHOUT a tension gage, just a 'meter-stick': http://www.riggingandsails.com/pdf/selden-tuning.pdf
Simply follow this 'guide' for the 'basic plain-vanilla' tension setting and you'll be good to go for 95% of most sailing conditions !!!!!!!

Forestay/backstay tension is important as it provides a properly tensioned structure for the jib/genoa to operate ... most sailmakers 'assume' that the forestay is at approx. 15% tension; and, the jib/genoa is designed and cut for this expected tension in the forestay.

You adjust the backstay to this approximate 15% tension and the important forestay tension automatically 'reacts' to the backstay tension adjustment. Another way to state this is you adjust backstay tension to get the proper forestay tension ..... then once this is set, you adjust ALL other rigging tensions.
Simple speak: Just follow the rig adjustment tensions in the 'order' or sequence as described in this manual.

hope this helps.

[Faith25]

Thanks for all the advise. I found out the forestay broke at the base of the swage eye. I used the jib halyard as an emergency stay and took down the furler (old seafurl, but sea furl still make parts for my model) and stay, measured the old stay and made a new stay using stalock instead of swages. The new stay is up with the furler, and the boat is sailing wonderfull. The only scary part was going up the mast. Also installed a halyard retrain to avoid that nasty halyard wrap on the stay. RichH thanks so much for the tuning advice it works great and simple. On my way at becoming proficient in DIY projects

[chucklesR]

I love a happy ending

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by Faith25

Thanks for all the advise. I found out the forestay broke at the base of the swage eye. I used the jib halyard as an emergency stay and took down the furler (old seafurl, but sea furl still make parts for my model) and stay, measured the old stay and made a new stay using stalock instead of swages. The new stay is up with the furler, and the boat is sailing wonderfull. The only scary part was going up the mast. Also installed a halyard retrain to avoid that nasty halyard wrap on the stay. RichH thanks so much for the tuning advice it works great and simple. On my way at becoming proficient in DIY projects

Sailnet needs a Fast-Learner-And-Overachiever award and the OP has my vote.