Hi Stanley, Thanks for the ideas. I did also use the downhaul on the boom. I am familiar with the slack just above the tack fitting when using a cunningham. The split backstay is much shorter than the forestay. I do appreciate your reply. Fair winds, Tom Buzzi On Sun, Jul 26, 2015 at 6:43 PM, Stanley Wheatley <swwheatley@comcast.net> wrote:
Certainly sounds like your backstay set up is too short. This is a long shot, but is there any chance the backstay and headstay got mixed up?
By its very nature, a tight Cunningham will cause a little slack in the luff between the Cunningham cringle and the tack. That is nothing to be concerned about. Another long shot, but these boats came with sliding goosenecks, which makes a Cunningham redundant. Is it possible you do not even have a Cunningham cringle and are using the reef cringle instead? If you still have a sliding gooseneck, try using a downhaul on that and see what happens.
In any event, a 38 year old sail is beyond toast and should be replaced just as soon as the budget allows.
-----Original Message----- From: Thomas Buzzi Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2015 1:34 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: M_Boats: Mast rake on my Montgomery 17
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.