rake of the mast to be between 3 to 6 inches ... depends on personal preferences for weather helm, windward ability preferences, etc. sharing a picture of the boat, leveled on her lines, could help the group evaluate the situation. you can also measure the rake by putting a weight on the main headboard shackle (no boom on boat, no wind, set shackle a few inches above the deck). see how far the halyard is aft of the mast. you can extend the length of the backstay by an inch using a eye jaw toggle (search west marine for 'ALEXANDER ROBERTS Eye Jaw Toggles'. you want the 1/4" pin version. you can extend the length of the forestay the same way. the eye jaw toggle is attached to the pin that holds theh backstay/forestay to the head of the mast. attach the forestay/backstay to the eye jaw toggle. as Stanley wrote ... the main is toast and needs to be replaced. -- :: Dave Scobie :: former M15 owner - www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred :: M17 #375 SWEET PEA - www.m17-375.webs.com On Sun, Jul 26, 2015 at 5:43 PM, Stanley Wheatley <swwheatley@comcast.net> wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Buzzi
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2015 1:34 PM
I am finally ironing out the difficulties with my rig, such as sagging main sail and weird position of the spreaders. I now have the mast stepped on the boat on my driveway. I have the standing rigging tensioned with the split backstay turnbuckle wound out as far as I feel is safe. The mast rake still looks excessive and the shroud ends of the spreaders are actually forward of the mast. This cannot be correct. The rig is stock in every way. Any help will be appreciated.. Also my mainsail, which is 38years old will not set properly. When I haul it up the mast and cleat off the main halyard, and then use a cunningham to tension the luff I cannot get the bag out of the lower third of the mainsail adjacent to the tack. The outhaul is also tight so the foot is as tight as it can be. I seem to remember a remark made on this site once about the luff rope actually shrinking thus preventing setting the mainsail properly. Is this what I am dealing with now? Fair winds, Tom B.