I have had it out 2 times now, what a blast. Friend got hooked and is looking for one of his own now.

My boat has the 6:1 harken mainsheet blocks and 2 adjuster links in the forestay. Side shrouds are loose. Pulled the extra adjuster out, and the sides can go to the 3rd hole from the top. From what I read, these should be tight?

Also my Mast Base has been repaired 1 time before, and is loose now. I already ordered the Murray's hinge. So here is what I am thinking.

I am debating on cutting the mast base 1/4" to 3/8" to get clean metal for the repair. Put both adjusting links back in the forestay bridal. Set my mast rake, and have new cables made to fit in 3rd hole for more adjustment later.

The side shrouds should be tight, am I correct?

Should the mast rake be set with the Jib sail pulled tight?

The shrouds should be tight. I have seen people uses 2 links on the forestay. When you raise the mast, attach the forestay cable to the top adjuster but the fasten the jib to the lower one. When you raise the jib, tighten it until the shrouds are tight. The forestay cable will be very loose. Fasten a bunge cord to pull the upper adjuster forward and down to put tension on that cable. This is done to keep the loose cable from rubbing on the jib. The small pulley in the jib halyard is there to allow you to get some mechanical advantage to tighten the jib.

Howard

I just got the Step hinge from Murrays. Anyone have a hard time getting it out after the mast is up? Will it loosen up? should I grind on it a bit so I can take the one pun out and let is swing down? or take it out compleatly? I have to pry it out of the mast, even prying the mast up to get it out.

Depend on how far forward the mast is pushed.

Drill the holes in the castings... slightly oversized. Remove the link by holding the mast in a rake position that relieves the load on the link. You may have to hold the mast aft a bit before attaching the forestay or push forward a bit from the max rake possible with the longer forestays used today. Either position can bind the pins.

One thing that seems to work for me is to use a phillips head screw driver instead of the pin. It's a lot easier to grab and pull with, in addition to supporting the mast like Matt says. It also is a better reminder to pull the pin before you start raising the sails.

Yeah, the shrouds are going to be loose until you pull the jib up. Then the wire in the jib will act as the forestay and the shrouds will be pulled tight.

Also the leeward shroud will always be slack while sailing.

The hinge


The hinge with one pin out. As you can see it hits the mast. the holes dont line up. and my Mast has been repaired a few times. I was thinking about re shaping the hinge a lil. I can replace it cheaper than the mast parts. I may need to do that soon anyway. Or maybe I have to much rake. Will it come out easier if I take a little rake out?

I normally pull out the pin before I set up the jib. One thing you might try is reaching forward and tugging on the forestay to take some of the rake out temporarily. The rig is quite loose before th jib halyard is tightenend and that might be your best time to pull the mast hinge pin.

I bought the heavy duty Murrays hinge years ago and found it difficult to use with even moderate (aft) mast rake. I have a newer boat/sails now and run hard (aft) rake for heavy air. Rigged this way, even the old Hobie hinges didn't work well for me....I'd have to rake back after steppping the mast and rake forward before lowering it. And yes, we were pushing/pulling the mast as far forward as possible. I had several old hinges, so I ground off the forward top corners (where yours is hitting the bottom of the mast base) for a test. It works great, and I'm still using it. The Phillips head screwdriver (size No. 2, I think) trick mentioned above makes things much easier, too.

I took some of my rake out. Now running about 8" and it did help. I have someone hanging on the forestay to get it out. I also pry up on the mast to put back in. I was using the screwdriver on the old hinge. I think I will take it to work and trim it down a lil with the grinder.