Front stay tension

I recently picked up a 1980 Hobie 16 in good shape and am going through it. I need to set up by myself so added a mast raising gin pole with "baby stays". With this, I can really pull the mast forward and it makes attaching the front stay very easy.

But Im wondering how tight the front stay should be? It was pretty loose when I got the boat but that might have been to make the set up easier. Too tight or too loose might damage the boat?

Also, is there really any reason to worry about the bottom of the mast popping out of the socket while sailing (also related to how tight the stays should be)? I put a little tether on my H14 between the bottom of the mast and the boat but maybe I really didnt need to.

Dont want to hijack my own question but this is a picture I took last Saturday single hand sailing a 26 foot sailboat at Elevenmile res in Colorado. The outboard wouldnt start with a tornado bearing down- seriously scary...
http://analogengineering.com/elevenmile ... nado_1.jpg

YIKES!!! That looks scary!

The "forestay" on a Hobie 16 is actually two wires. One holds the mast up when rigging. The jib luff wire becomes the "forestay" when rigged. The jib halyard is used to tension the rig. The original rigging forestay goes slack once the jib halyard is tensioned. The rig should be tight and the jib luff wire takes all loads of the forestay. This holds the mast into the step cup.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

how could it be? If so, how did you survive?

As a note, the Jib halyard goes through a block on the mast and another small block on the cable portion of the jib halyard. Pull it tight and tie it off so 4" or so inches is slacked off.

that picture is um, unreal!

No advise here, just commenting on the picture...

Please tell us of your harrowing escape.

Great photo! Woulda scared the hell outa me!

Thanks for the response on the stay tension. When I put the jib up, everything made sense. Lots of clever designs on these boats..

Regarding the Tornado, Park County Colorado has had one recorded Tornado since they started keeping records in about 1950 and it happened to be this one. They are rare because its high mountain country (the lake is at 8600 feet). The forcast that day was for 5-10 mph winds and 30% chance of thunderstorms which is actually on the "calm" side for this lake.

I set out about noon in sunny skys (motoring with the 1990 Honda 8 hp outboard), put up the sails about 1 PM and about 2 PM, saw what looked like a big dust storm at the end of the lake - but not on the lake. Looked big enough that I decided to drop the sails and motor. By the time I had the sails dropped, this thing had moved onto the lake and was forming the funnel. I tried to start the outboard but was getting minor shocks- sparking - tingling on the outboard and it would just sputter and not start. I beleive the charge in the air (lightning was going on) was messing with the electronic ignition. For a long time, Im sitting there trying to start the motor knowing that condtions were ripe for a lightning strike but no choice since this big ass and getting bigger ass tornado was bearing down on me. But.. I kept taking pictures and the one in the link was during a real "come to jesus" time period when I figured I was going to have to go below, tie down the hatch and ride it out.

Finally - probably sometime close to when the picture was taken, I got the outboard started and headed South as I thought the Tornado was going North. After some time, it looked like I had been going the wrong direction and I dd a U turn and headed back North. The Tornado kept going South and went on to land at a fishing/picknic area and threw over some trucks/campers with people in them and blew out some windows. There were some minor injuries but that was about it.

I then got rained and hailed on motoring back in, got soaking wet and am just now getting over the cold I got.

It really scared the crap out of me and Im looking forward to some time on the Hobie cat staying a little closer to shore.