Forestay wire repair

One end of my forsyay wire has ben draged on the ground while trailering. It dose not look to bad but I would like to repair it with a new thimble and nicopress sleve.Is a special crimping tool needed and is this advisable and will the slight shortening be critical ? Thank`s Patrick

I had my forestay hit the road and it was destroyed, you only let that happen once.
The forestay is only there to hold up your mast when not sailing but you are right that it should be repaired or replaced.
if you shorten the forestay that will limit the amount of mast rake you can get. you want your main blocks block to block for best pointing. rig up your jib and see how much slack there is, just make sure that all the wire is in good repair.
my original forestay was too short to get the mast rake I wanted. so as a short term measure to get out sailing I took some amsteel and lashed the bridle chainplate to the forestay to add lenght to the forestay.
there is a special tool for nicropresses, one tool can usually do a range of nicropress sizes. check your local marine stores they may have one that you could use so you don't have to buy one.
Seamus

It might be worth the money, time, and peace of mind to just buy one from your Hobie dealer. If you decide to make one yourself, your local marine store may have what you need. My W. Marine has thimbles, sleeves and a Nicopress crimper they let me use.

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Alan
'86 H16, Sail #89057

A new one lists for $35.75. I recently replaced mine that had the same damage. I didn't mind a couple of broken strands when I trailered, but now that it's in mast up storage I decided it should be replaced.

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1984 H16 - #80541