Can someone post a picture of their cascaded backstay?

[SailingUphill]

#68 has the older style pinch backstay adjuster, looks like it was upgraded to allow adjustment from forward on either side. The arrangement works, but doesn't properly return when eased. I'd much rather a simpler system and honestly would consider upgrading the backstay to spectra, with a flicker, along with a more straightforward smooth way to adjust.

Can someone send a picture of what they are using.

[normbue]

Reading thru the 7.9 rigging instructions, you should tighten your backstay until the adjuster does go all the way up.
That's also what I do.

[SailingUphill]

My boat came with a split backstay adjuster, and I never saw it rigged before.... it still appears to use a "pinch" to tighten, but can be adjusted up by the traveler on port or starboard.... best I can tell I rigged it correctly (sorry I didnt' take pictures)... but it takes 2 hands to tighten, and when you release it, except at more than 50% on... it doesnt' return completely. I think it's "always" been like that, as there appears to be an extra block at the top of the split, to "force" a return... No way can I leave it configured this way.

I'd prefer simple, and powerful, regardless of where I have to reach to do it. I guess I wanna see some backstay configurations... But I read through discussions by others about converting over the backstay to spectra, and adding a flicker (to clear the roach)..., with a simple split backstay adjustment like say a J/80...


or perhaps a meges 24 without the craziness forward of the traveler.

[AJ Oliver]

We used a kicker (made from a batton) to prevent the main from hanging up on the backstay.
What a relief that is.
And a system similar to the Melges (in the above drawing), with a light triple block instead of
that spaghetti by the traveler. Used light line and small blocks to save weight.
Sorry don't have a photo - boat is in winter storage.
Don't think you need 12:1

[SailingUphill]

AJ can you describe it a bit?

Example, did you completely ditch the 2 wires that presently connect to the backstay?

What I mean is, I think the simplest solution for me is to ditch the wire, under the connection point.. and connect something like THIS, to the 2 points that I am presently using for the blocks for adjusting the backstay...


You can see the stern chainplates in my picture.. and the places I think I could attach the above to... of course that leaves me with just 1 place to adjust the backstay from (not brought forward). I dunno, gotta fix it with something else.

[Tim Bosma]

Uphill,
I have some good spectra backstay info on the Hot Tamale Racing website: http://hottamaleracing.com/. It is on the Links page once you enter the site. The file has old prices, but the diagram might be what you looking for.
The Class approved the change to a High-tech backstay and most all racers have done that.
Cheers!

[SailingUphill]

Thanks Tim.. I'll look.

[SailingUphill]

Look what I found, basically the answer to what I was asking.. Which is, do you totally ditch the backstay completely in a cascaded backstay reconfigure... Looks like this guy went with amsteel or the like, and used the existing backstay tangs to attach the tackle to. I'll be good and not comment about the roller furler, or weight positioning downwind.

By the way Tim I like your design better, and will fit in nicely to what I already have for connection points and cleats on my existing dual adjustable split/pinch style.. your design can be modified some for my existing equipment, and the lengths you have posted in your spreadsheet should be ideal numbers for me to shoot for... HUGE help!

Initially my Excel 2013 gave me an error opening the XLS file (out of memory, and I run a 16 gig of RAM Core i5 laptop), I converted it to XLSX using an older version of Excel (2010), then it opened just fine... go figure.



So this is what I am going to use as the template (Tim's Drawing not mine).

[sailor536]

What length do I make the spectra backstay for the design used by Hot Tamale?

Thanks,

Jim

[SailingUphill]

I followed his specs exactly... worked perfectly for me. Well, no I'll be honest, I think the batten should have been about 12" longer, and I should have used a stiffer batten (but I used a heavier block on the batten and that didn't help).

Presently the backstay is still into the roach about 2-4" with full release, a slightly longer batten would eliminate that. My boat already had everything setup for the blocks and controls from both sides, it was just a matter of routing all the line correctly.