Replacing the Bobstay HC43T

[daves]

I need to replace the Bobstay.

Is this possible without unstepping the mast? That is, will slackening off the backstage be enough? Has anyone done this?

I am also planning to rebed a couple of chainplates as I have minor leaks and whilst it seems to make sense to unstep the mast and do all the work in one go, this will involve moving the boat and a heap of associated cost.

Any thoughts and experience much appreciated.

Dave

[edelweiss]

Yes you can remove the bobstay with the mast up. Make a note of screw locations on each stay so you can return to that when you reinstall. Bring a spinaker halyard to the bow ( not the end of sprit just the bow) tighten it up and secure it. You can slack the back a little and even the head stay a little bit more since the halyard will be sharing the load. The loosen and remove the bobstay. It should be fine as long as you are not trying to sail like that. The mast should be then well supported forward by the inner forestay and spin halyard. DO NOT GO UP the mast until you have re attached and double checked each stay. What are you replacing the bobstay with?

You can do a similar procedure with the shrouds one at a time. If you feel your time is better spent getting them all out maybe faster and safer to pull the mast. Then you can rewire and attach new expensive toys to the mast

[daves]

Thank you Edelweiss
That is the way I will go. Unstepping the mast can wait until next year when
I will be ashore for a period.

The current bobstay is solid rod and was bent when I bought the boat. The advice i have is that it is not ideal to straighten it due to the liklihood of weakening it. I intend to replace it with conventional wire.

Dave

[markfnovak]

I had Robert Perry consult on my HC43T and he also recommended that I replace my rod bobstay with wire. However, he recommended I use very thick wire, about 3/4", since the load on the bobstay can be extremely high and the angle puts a lot of stress on the wire. Most wire bobstays I see are not nearly that thick and at risk of failure.

Another point is that if you use a swaged fitting at the cutwater, where it attaches to the boat, then this will be constantly buried in sea water and will corrode much more quickly than the regular swaged fittings on your stays.

Mark