Babystay lifting Coach Top!

[L124C]

The Babystay on my Yankee 30 is lifting the deck (Coach top) off a bulkhead about a quarter inch. I'm pointing at the area that lifts, though, I've relieved the tension on the stay. Three of the four acorn nuts on the bottom of the stay are on the right. I'm wondering what they did with the fourth (I'm pointing at it in the topside picture). Is it a screw (not a through bolt) that they ran into the top of the bulkhead? If so, that seems worthless. I assume the screws on the left (first picture) were supposed to join the bulkhead and Coach Top. To my surprise, they must be screws, as they are not through bolts. In any case, they apparently are not doing their job anymore. The babystay runs at a steep angle, so though it doesn't have a lot of load on it, the force it exerts on the Coach Top is mainly lift. I'm thinking that I may need to connect the three bolts (bottom of stay) to a fitting that would straddle and be through bolted to the edge of the bulkhead, about a foot under the Coach top. Thoughts?

[St Anna]

Sounds a very wise choice.

I have had similar dramas and havent yet come up with an answer as I dont have a bulkhead under the inner forestay.

[AllThumbs]

Undo the acornless bolt and find out how it's fastened.

[sailingfool]

Do you need the load on the babystay that produces this strain? I thought most folks who dont just remove the babystay completely, left their unconnected unless they were beating in a seaway, then attaching the babystay to prevent pumping...

[Sunday Driver]

mabe make a stainless plate , to connect the deck to the bulkhead ?

[L124C]

Originally Posted by Sunday Driver

maybe make a stainless plate , to connect the deck to the bulkhead ?

Thats what I was thinking. Maybe a U channel that would slip over the front edge of the bulkhead, with through bolts. It could be connected to the upper bolts by threaded rod or wire. Maybe I could simply extend the upper bolts to run into a fitting on top of the U channel. That would certainly hold it. Of course, then the question becomes - How well is the bottom of the bulkhead fastened? It would create potential for a major headache getting in or out of the V berth, but I'll bet you would only hit it once!

[L124C]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

Do you need the load on the babystay that produces this strain? I thought most folks who dont just remove the babystay completely, left their unconnected unless they were beating in a seaway, then attaching the babystay to prevent pumping...

Hmmm, good point. When I tuned the rig, it factored into the mast bend, but I've heard your theory as well. Maybe I'll just leave it slack and see if I notice any difference. Certainly the easiest option!
I'm surprised that it is happening, as in general, the boat is built like a Brick you know what. On the other hand, she is over 40 years old! I'm not clear on what the screws on the left were doing. I would have expected through bolts, but then, I don't know much about boat building!

[L124C]

Originally Posted by AllThumbs

Undo the acornless bolt and find out how it's fastened.

I don't dare. If it is in fact a through bolt and was installed before the bulkhead, I'll have to remove the bulkhead to get the nut on again. If it's a screw and was installed into the top of the bulkhead (unlikely, the more I look at the picture), I would expect it to be loose, as it is obviously not screwed tightly into the bulkhead anymore. In any case the lower stay fitting is secure and is fortunately not an issue.

[GeorgeB]

L124C – Is that baby stay original to the boat? Is the boat a tall rig and the stay installed to prevent mast pumping? I have seen where even reputable builders have put in a blind screw (but I wouldn’t recommend it.) You really need to tie off into something more substantial than the edge of a partial bulkhead. The load will still be concentrated on the center of the coach roof and not completely distributed along the roof under that bulkhead. Usually when stays are chain plated to a bulkhead it is done so the bulkhead can distribute the load across a wide area. Is it possible to tie into a cross member under the cabin sole with a cable? Check the moisture in your cabin roof. There is rust on one of the acorns which indicates a leak. What you might have is water intrusion into the plywood, weakening or rotting it which is causing the coach roof to deflect which would mean an entirely different kettle of fish. I vote for taking the pad eye off, inspect and rebed then work your engineering. Besides, those washers look a little small to be providing sufficient backing for such a massive pad eye.

[L124C]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

Do you need the load on the babystay that produces this strain? I thought most folks who dont just remove the babystay completely, left their unconnected unless they were beating in a seaway, then attaching the babystay to prevent pumping...

In his Practical Sailor article "Tunning the Masthead Rig" J. Pazereskis says:

"The problem with a statically straight mast is that when loaded it is too easy for the mast to invert, or bend backwards. This can happen when the boat is beating in a seaway or reaching with the spinnaker pole up. Most mast sections can accommodate a significant amount of forward bend without failure, but very little aft bend......In contrast, if you set up the rig so that it has "prebend", that is, the center of the mast bends forward when in a static condition, the loaded mast will flex in the proper direction. What flex there is will then tend to flatten the main, rather than bagging it, and the boat will balance better, particularly in heavy air, when most boats start to develop helm problems."
http://www.practical-sailor.com/mari...ig-7055-1.html

So...it sounds like a loaded Babystay is important, especially in SF where we see more than our share of "heavy air". Darn! It would have been so much easier to leave it unloaded and ignore the issue!