Split backstay

[Solace]

Ahoy all,

This spring I am finally going to get around to either splitting the backstay or running a second one with similar chainplate mounts. Why? No, I am a dedicated cruiser, I haven't read something where I could pick up a quarter knot and I'm not a racer. The reason is simpler. The previous owner switched my boat from a tiller to a wheel. We sit on the transom for a helm seat, which is okay, except for the center mounted backstay. You have to loop your arm around it one side or the other and after a while it chafes your arm pit. In short, its a pain in the butt.

Anyone else have to go through similar surgery? Splitting the backstay seems to be the easiest, but the second one would be great in a backup.

Thanks in advance of your comments and suggestions.

John

[CapnK]

I'm planning to eventually double my backstay, so I'm interested to see what some of our boat-making posters have to say about this...

[captedteach]

 Well if your gonna split the backstay you may as well add the adjuster car so you can give that mast a little prebend and gain that 1/4 knot - thats 8 miles in a day of sailing.  When you do this you will want to check for accessability to the new chainplate areas and be sure to use a backing plate. Depending on the transom thickness you may want to add a piece of marine ply on the inside of the hull and glass it in just in the chainplate area about 3x wider than the backing plate.  IF you are going to add a second backstay as a safety measure be sure that the two are completly seperate - no common hardware at attachment points ets.  It would really suck to lose both stays because one cotter pin broke

[starcrest]

I dont know your experience level but  on  a boat your size my  preference would be tiller  steered.a better feel for what the boat  is doing---more direct response-----a more direct feel for the pull of  weather helm.if long distance deep water  voyaging is in  your future then  you should double the backstays completely----simply because there is safety in numbers. things can and do break out there in accordance to  murphys law.and it dont matter what time of day or nite nor where you are.it was a real trick  trying  to make one turnbuckle out  of two  broken ones-----I had to tighten down by twisting on the forestay itself-----as far as the attachment point  at the masthead---I used a 3/8 inch  stainless steel thrubolt with toggles to  allow for any  freeplay---and 5200 was used as locktight.the only problem was  on the original backstay there was an  insulator egg with 3/16 1x19 ss wire with  the nicopress swages----the individual wires began to break off--around  the curve thru the egg---I  found these fish hook shaped pieces of wire on the deck. if  you look closely at the last picture  of my boat "starcrest" onthe ariel  forum you can see how I jury rigged a support line for this---theres a rope going  from a deck cleat thru the egg  back to the deck cleat

[kingfish]

Hello,
alls you got to do is: Buy or make 2 -approx. 10' wire rope with eyes, Depends on how much you need to go from hull to above your head standing up.
Install new chain plates where you can to keep the same angle of the existing backstay, and the furthest apart as possible,
Attach your new split backstay wires
Measure the length of existing backstay with the new split backstay wires above your head,together
Shorten your existing backstay. add a new swedge and eye, and connect all three together.
Tune the new split backstay.
Theres your split backstay.  To make it adjustable: add a split backstay car and it makes it adjustable.
No going up the mast!!!
Cheers
D

[Shakabrah]

I have a split backstay and was thinking of converting it to a single backstay with a boomkin. One of the problems I have with a split stay is for an antenna. I think the other wire may act as a parasitic of the antenna wire and be either a director or reflector making my SSB more directional than I really want.

If you go with a split backstay, you should run some fiberglass tape on the inside of the hull, in an upside down V where the chainplates attach. This will also help strengthen the attachment for the chainplates and spread the load a little more over the hull.

[AdriftAtSea]

I'd go back to a tiller arrangement.  The steering feel through a tiller is much more accurate and responsive.  Also, there are more parts to fail in a wheel-based system, and more maintenance.  The boat was designed with a tiller for a reason.  Tiller auto-pilots are also quite easy to setup and install, and not exceptionally expensive now-a-days. 

It might also be a good thing to install a tackle or hydraulic backstay adjuster.  An adjustable backstay is very useful in de-powering the sails in heavier winds...and can make the reefed mainsail and jib much more reasonable to handle in heavy weather conditions.

Changing back to a tiller is probably less work than re-inforcing the transom to convert to a split backstay.  Most boat designs have a fair bit of thought as to how the chainplates are tied to the rest of the structure on the boat, and usually have them tied into the major underlying structure, often to structural elements that go down through the hull to the keel.  Also, the chainplates may be electrically bonded as part of a lightning ground system, and if you install new chainplates, you'd have to also connect them to the existing lightning protection system. 

One last point... most long distance/long term cruisers use self-steering of some sort, so the amount you'd be using the tiller isn't all that much, and windvanes/autopilots are often far simpler to connect to a tiller-steered setup.