if you want to rake your mast further aft, and it is already as far aft as the forestay chainplate allows, then you are in exactly the same situation as the hobie 16 guys about 10 years ago

in their case rather than lengthen the forestay most just added a 2nd chainplate. now that hobie has realised that the hobie 16 goes better with more rake they have lengthened the forestay itself so owners don't have to add the extra chainplate/adjuster

ie i suggest you add a 2nd chainplate to your forestay bridal before buying a longer forestay

edit. rereading your last post it sounds as if you have NO forestay chainplate/adjuster, if that is so, get yea down to your local chandlers and get one

this is what you should be looking like

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6kfFxrtYvhb5YCVHBPxSRw

Don't bother with a forestay chainplate. use a length of non-stretch line, attach the two bridles end with a bowline, loop the line a couple of time between the stay and the bridles, tie a good knot, done. Instant solution, less hardware. If you have a mast up storage, tape the knot.

I only skimmed some of these more lenghty posts.. so please excuse me if this has been asnwered ... on my TheMightyHobie18 rake was adjusted by going DOWN 1 (or more) holes on the side stay chain plates and UP 1 (or more) holes on the forestay chainplate.

On my current boat i use a ring on my furling jib (turnbuckle) that i tie with line, so there is no chainplate. I set the side stays where i want them and tie the forestay.

Agreed. Also allows you to fine tune your rig tension.

As for taping it up. ALways tape the knot up.

pepin, ill give that a try. It is mast up storage, but with your idea i wont even have to lower the mast. Do you have a picture of it?

I'm sailing tonight, I'll try to remember to take a pic of my forestay.

Here's what we use around here. We call it a Portuguese turnbuckle. It makes mast rake and rig tensioning easy and can be done solo. Start by tying about 3 feet of 5/32 line to your forestay. When you've looped it to about 3 to 1 onto your bridles/furler you can haul downward and tighten the rig WAY tight. If you want to rake further just ease this turnbuckle, drop the side stay pins down a hole and retension the turnbuckle. Tack your jib to the furler shackle and the whole turnbuckle hides inside the jib luff.

Dave, why are you messing with my boat/forestay? Next time i will have to turn on my electo-shock alarm...

Yes, Andrew, it looks like your Mystere 5.5 but it's acutally my old Mystere 5.0XL (notice the rust stain). I've been doing using this rig for years on many boats. I think it's the stock setup on the Dart 18. It's never broken, easy to adjust, and nothing has matched it's simplicity.

David,
I appreciate the help. Im gonna try this tomorrow and let you know how it works.

I completely forgot to take a pic, but my setup is exactly the same as the portuguese turnbuckle in David's pics.

Daggerboards:
When I am beaching and storing, I use the loop of rope on the top of the daggerboards and hook that over the trap handles. While sailing, I use bungee cord slipped through a piece of fabric reinforced hose - Tygon?. The hose about 6" longer than the width of the daggerboard. The ends of the bungee cord go through the supplied grommets in the trap and are knotted on the underside.

Rudders:
Same thing is used to hold up the rudders ... bungee cord and a piece of hose. Length of hose is about 10" long. Center the hose in the hole in the rudder and then run a length of bungee through the hose. Pass both ends of the bungee cord through the rudder tiller and tie the end together. The knot will then catch on the tiller/tiller bar bolt. I can take some close-up photos this weekend and post.

Ian

Hi,
I'm trying to set up the rigging on my Freestyle 474 and was wondering if you ever got this dialed in? I'm wondering what lengths to have my mainstays at since all my rigging was stolen in a vehicle a long time ago.


Bflo

Okay let me try to get you the rigging information.

Here is an overall view of the mast with all the rigging attached. I personally never remove any of the rigging and simply use the halyard to tie up all the wires and make it a neat package to store away in the winter.



Here I have layed out the halyard which is 55' long or one foot longer than the rope doubled the length of the 27' mast.



This shows the wires attached to the mast:


There are 5 wires.
Outer pair are the trapeze wires, the inner pair are the shrouds and the centre wire is the forestay.

Trapeze Wires:
These are 0.1" (3/32") diam by 205.5" measuring from thimble to thimble. So the length of the wire itself would have to be a few inches longer to allow wrapping around the the thimble and fastened with the swaged fitting.
Remember to slide on a trapeze handle before terminating the wire with the thimble and swaged fitting.

Shroud Wires:
These are 0.13" (1/8") diam by 236.5" measuring from thimble to thimble.
Shroud is terminated with an adjustable fitting or stay aduster.


Forestay Wire:
This is comprised of a single 0.13" (1/8") diam by 167.5" wire connected to a bridle of 2 @ 0.13" (1/8") diam by 75" wires.
The connection of the forestay to the bridle is shown here.


Hope that helps!
Ian
(No clue why the last picture won't show up ... I'll just post another followup.

There was a limit set to only allow 5 image tags in a forum post, I've changed that to ten. There does need to be a limit to prevent having so many images in one post that the page never loads, but five is probably too low.

Thanks for posting the Freestyle info, you never know who you are helping out there.

I'm curious what type of ferrules are used on your boat. I bought aluminum ones (without really thinking since it was at West Marine) years ago preparing to rig the boat, then was thinking to use Stainless, but then have been told people use nickel plated copper. It appears that's what these are.

Nobrush ... need a little more info regarding your question about ferrules ... namely ... what ferrules? Does my boat have ferrules? Sorry but I must call your "ferrules" something else as I am confused as to what boat part you are referring.
Cheers!

I posted a video on Youtube about raising the mast on my 474. Check it out at Freestyle 474 - Raising Mast.

Cheers!
Ian

The product which is used to make an Eye splice is known as: Oval Sleeve, Figure 8 Sleeve, Hourglass Sleeve, Duplex Sleeve, Ferrule, Nicos.

Use copper swages (either bare or zinc-plated). Aluminum swage sleeves are not as strong and therefore unsuitable for load-bearing applications (deck railings yes - boat rigging no). Stainless steel ferrules generally need much greater pressure and require hydraulic swaging tools.