Rodney: On the M17, spreaders are perpendicular and swept slightly aft: http://www.msogphotosite.com/MSOG/b17audasea/b17audasea5.jpg Picture shows 3 of us I think and all look the same. Rear boat is Seas the Day, a M15. No spreaders on those. Outer stays go through the spreaders to the masthead. Inners to the base of the spreaders. Chainplates on the cabin sides are slightly aft of the base of the mast, so when tensioned, both sets of spreaders are swept aft very slightly. You should be able to slide the stays through the boots to get them to line up. My spreaders rotate, so you may need to rotate them at the base of the spreader so they flex fore and aft and not up. They are tensioned at the chainplates by turnbuckles. If those are missing, you might come up short, but otherwise, there should be plenty of slack to get them attached. And set your forestay and backstay to rake the mast aft a bit. Howard On Apr 3, 2008, at 7:31 AM, Rodney Holland wrote:
I’m still concerned that my spreaders seem to be at too much of an angle, “up and aft”. I suspect the angle up is 45 degrees, and I’ve never noticed any on boats that aren’t perpendicular, so something seems amiss, yet the spreader boots are tight to the degree that I can’t see how and shifting could have happened, and it appears that if they were perpendicular to the mast that the stays wouldn’t be long enough to reach the chain plates. I made a reasonable attempt below at a drawing as if you are looking toward from bow as if the boat is coming directly at you. I bought this boat from a broker in Alabama who took it on a trade, so he has no clue, plus I’ve got it back in TX now anyway. I’m afraid to sail it like it is, because I’m no engineer, but I can see that a “wider distribution of the load might make it stronger, which I suppose is the whole purpose for spreaders anyway.
Also have a question of how long the jib sheets I’m going to have to buy need to be. I have a working jib, and a 150% as well. I plan to initially just buy one set, and maybe at a later point get some for the smaller headsail. Any ideas on length? I’m thinking about 22 ft each. Am I close?
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