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Your special offer  The BobstayBy RICHARD TOYNE One of the disadvantages of a bowsprit is the way in which an anchor or mooring chain can rub and grind against the bobstay. Not only does the racket this creates inside the boat ensure that no one on board can relax, the wear and tear can damage the stay, the ground tackle and maybe, in extreme cases, the bowsprit itself. When the boat has a fixed bobstay this problem can be partly alleviated by tying a length of rope to the anchor chain, which is then led over the bow roller and made fast on deck. The chain is paid out until it hangs in a bight over the bow, and the weight of the boat is taken on the rope. Set up like this only the rope, which is both smooth and easy to replace, chafes on the bobstay. Owners of pole-masted vessels that set a flying jib and, hence, have no need for a jibstay, can fit a running bobstay, as I did on Edith , the Polperro hooker that I owned in Falmouth. The bobstay was made of chain. At the waterline it was shackled to a fitting on the stem while at the bowsprit tip it was tensioned by a small purchase. There was also a light rope or tricing line that was attached to the chain, about 2ft 6in (75cm) from the stem, with the end tied off at the stemhead. Before setting the jib, the bobstay would be tightened and the fall of the purchase made fast on the fid that went through the bowsprit bitts because there was no jibstay it was easy to apply sufficient tension to curve the bowsprit slightly downwards. When the boat was on a mooring or at anchor the purchase could be released again, and the bobstay chain lifted out of the way using the tricing line. In its stowed position the bobstay ran up the stem, and neatly out along the underneath of the bowsprit, leaving Edith free to swing to her mooring while the bowsprit and its rigging were safe from damage. RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM CLASSIC BOAT Dave Selby’s Problem with Water: Drinking Alcohol at Sea How to Face Bad Weather at Sea: Adrian Morgan’s Stormy tales Boat Building Academy: Comprehensive Courses for AllClassic Boat is the magazine for the world’s most beautiful boats. Packed with stunning images, we have the inside stories of the great classic yachts and motorboats afloat today, as well as fascinating tales from yesteryear and the latest from the wooden boat building scene around the world.  ADVERTISING © 2024 The Chelsea Magazine Company , part of the Telegraph Media Group . Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy  - AMERICA'S CUP
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 How do I rig the bobstay of my Trogear bowsprit? | Trogear | 2:1 Single Braid Dia (mm) | Double braid Dia. (mm) |
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Tensioning a BobstayHello fellow sailors. I recently had to do some work on my bowsprit and now it’s time to retune everything. I can’t seem to find much info on proper rig tension on the bobstay. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a Loos gauge.  Thankyou Jeff! I’ll do the math then adjust accordingly.  But really, when tuning the rig wouldn't you just adjust the tension of the forestay? The bob stay tension will be whatever it will be? The problem with just adjusting the forestay is that you can be pulling the bowsprit out of the deck due to large forces and lots of leverage. Similarly, if you over tighten the bobstay, you can do the opposite, pulling the aft end of the bowsprit out of the Sampson post. Ideally they should be in balance. But often, folks will tighten the forestay, then tighten the bobstay with someone standing on the spit until it feels like the sprit has stopped moving. The turnbuckle for bobstay should be up at the cranse iron so its easy enough to be the person adjusting the bobstay and sitting on the sprit. Besides that gets the turnbuckle out of the water. Bobstays rarely get tensioned. In the picture of Indian (above), the forestay was unhooked to get her into the travelift and the bow sprit did not move. Jeff Top Contributors this Month  - Forums New posts Unanswered threads Register Top Posts Email
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how does a bowsprit stay and work- Thread starter tom h
- Start date Nov 18, 2005
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I've read a lot, and visited several museums, and cannot recall ever finding out how a bowsprit works. Just read an article where they reduced it's length during a storm, which improved the sailing. The bobstay is connected in series to the forestay. This pushes the bowsprit back. What holds it from going back? How is it adjustable for length?  Tom, do a Google on bowsprit and you... will find several good hits that should answer most if not all of your questions. For whatever reason Hunter does not use them on their boats. Terry  Bow sprits are there to put distance between the sails which allows for better sailing angles and larger sail areas with off wind sails. I added a bowsprit to my boat this year. Makes a huge difference.  sailortonyb Allied MisSprit Reduction? I for one have not heard of a bowsprit that is anything other than permanent. Im not saying it doesnt exist, and i could figure out lots of ways to do it. But like you said, "The bobstay is connected in series to the forestay." If you were to move the bowsprit, then the forestay and bobstay would also have to be re-tensioned. Doesnt make sense, especially on the historical boats. Like Alan said, the bowsprit extends the boat out more forward to allow for a larger sail. If the weather kicks up and you want to reduce sail, what is usually done is that you drop the sail on the forestay and you have a smaller sail on an inner stay,which is usually parallel to the forestay but closer in toward the mast. Depending on the relative positioning of the mast and the size of the fore triangle, it would then be a cutter rig or a double headed sloop. Sprit Reduction? My sprit is retractable (see pic).Most sportboats these days have retractable sprits, notably J Boats. A bobstay is only needed if the sprit is not made strong enough to support the load. My sprit can support about 2700#'s. An adjustable bobstay can easily be added if needed. See Woas' "Self-steering..." Lee Woa's out-of-print book "Self-steering without a windvane" has an excellent chapter on his experiments with bowsprits. He made bowsprits for his small fiberglass cruiser and worked out some theory for how to rig them and how to use them. He seemed to feel that all the sails on the boat form a profile which tracks better as it is extended, in a way similar to how full keels track better than fin keels. I can't do justice to his discussion and the book can be had used on alibris.com or from a library willing to send it on interlibrary loan.  Rich, do you have more pics of your bowsprit? nm Sorry, no sprit David, sorry if I gave the impression that my boat is equipped with a bowsprit--I merely read about it. I do think the Woas book is the way to go for anyone with a smaller fiberglass boat that wants to play with them--he used a lot of simple and logical materials, including bamboo poles, and suggests a lot of ways to use the same simple poles for winging out jibs. And if you have a tiller you definitely want to have a look at his diagrams for how to get self-steering going... David Here's a shot of the sprit in action. Sailing a broad reach in light air, the AWA moves forward rather dramatically allowing some significant speed. bowsprit Alan, Do you have a photo of hardware on the bow for your bowsprit? Thanks, Mark Ed Hanley14076Reefable bowsprits The "shotgun" bowsprits that racers adopted several years ago have old roots. Back when mast heights were limited by the availability of strong, straight tree trunks, sail area, in light airs, was increased horizontally. One mechanism for this was a bowsprit extension that was simply hauled out by two gun tackles, similar to those used to position cannons at the gun ports. George B. s/v FreyaAlan, how does this work? Alan, what do you use as a sleeve on the bow to hold the pole in place? Your spinnaker pole cradle at the butt end is elegant. How much up force do you get on your pulpit apparatus? Any concerns about it pulling the pulpit off the boat? (We broke the back end of a retractable bowsprit pole box once and a couple of times I’d thought we were going to snap the carbon spar). What kind of PHRF hit did you take?  Moody BuccaneerBowsprits and forestays Traditional boats had permanent forestays that attach to the stem. The bowsprit was run out through the mooring bits and an iron collar at the stem. The bobstay could be of fixed length or adjustable. Jibs were set flying (no stay), what many people call jibs are properly called forestay sails (since they hank to the forestay). Later boats had permanent bowsprits and a jibstay was added to the end of the sprit, requiring a permanent bobstay. Forward of the jib a jib top was set flying or from a jib top stay if the sprit carried two stays. The forestay (from the stem) held the mast up, the other stays only set sails and the topmast may or may not depend on them for support. bowsprit You guys raise some interesting questions that I had to figure out. How strong should the pole be?... how do you figure it? ...what should I use to hold the pole at the bow and how will it work? I decided to overbuild most of the pole to be able to handle most heavy weather. The block on the end of the pole that carries the adjustable tack line is designed as the weak link. If the worst happens, this block will fail first doing the least amount of damage. The outboard end of the pole can handle 2700# at a ninty degrees. The fulcrum mounted on the anchor roller plate rotates horizontally about 30*. The inboard end of the pole is a standard spinnaker pole fitting. The deck attachment is a standard pole deck fitting mounted on a stainlees plate to spread the load. When deployed the pole extends 5.5' beyond the bow and when retracted is completely out of the way. To deploy the pole, the trigger fitting on the inboard fitting is opened at the toerail attachment. The pole is slid forward and dropped onto the center pole fitting where the trigger automatically snaps shut. The tack line is lead through the tack block on the pole and back to the cockpit where it can be adjusted as needed. - This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Accept Learn more…
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Bobstay replacementModerator: Jim Walsh Post by Doublebecket » Thu 5/14/15 9:00 pm Re: Bobstay replacementPost by Jim Walsh » Thu 5/14/15 9:26 pm Post by Klem » Thu 5/14/15 11:46 pm Post by Doublebecket » Thu 5/14/15 11:51 pm Post by sgbernd » Fri 5/15/15 4:36 pm Post by Doublebecket » Tue 5/19/15 3:04 am Post by Jim Walsh » Tue 5/19/15 9:31 pm Return to “Cape Dory Sailboats” - Cape Dory Discussions
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A bobstay is a part of the rigging of a sailing boat or ship. Its purpose is to counteract the upward tension on the bowsprit from the jibs and forestay. A bobstay may run directly from the stem to the bowsprit, [1] or it may run to a dolphin striker, a spar projecting downward, which is then held to the bowsprit or jibboom by a martingale stay.
If you haven't already replaced the bobstay, you may consider replacing the wire with dyneema (e.g. Amsteel Blue or the like) because it doesn't corrode. Our running bobstay has a bit of wire and then the Amsteel.
Classic Boat is the magazine for the world’s most beautiful boats. Packed with stunning images, we have the inside stories of the great classic yachts and motorboats afloat today, as well as fascinating tales from yesteryear and the latest from the wooden boat building scene around the world.
The purpose of a bobstay is to counteract the upward tension on the bowsprit, caused by the flying sails and the torsional stay. The bobstay is connected to the tip of the bowsprit and routed to a u-bolt, which is attached on the bow.
The turnbuckle for bobstay should be up at the cranse iron so its easy enough to be the person adjusting the bobstay and sitting on the sprit. Besides that gets the turnbuckle out of the water. Bobstays rarely get tensioned.
A question for those who have a bowsprit (we sail a Cat 30 tall rig with a bowsprit): how do you secure anchor or a mooring lines to the boat?
The bobstay could be of fixed length or adjustable. Jibs were set flying (no stay), what many people call jibs are properly called forestay sails (since they hank to the forestay). Later boats had permanent bowsprits and a jibstay was added to the end of the sprit, requiring a permanent bobstay.
I was thinking of taking my jib halyard to a fitting on the bow of the boat to share some of the load that the headstay is exerting on the bow spirit. Has anyone replaced their bobstay themselves? If so, what method did you do to remove it and support the spirit?
Bowsprit Whisker and Bobstay Rigging. Nov 4, 2016. Action: To Do List item A0168 – Replace turnbuckles and both whisker and bobstay stay rig wire. Completed: 4 November 2016. Cost: $822.80. The problems with the shortness of the bowsprit whisker stays and use of shackles to compensate for this issue was the reason these wires were to be replaced.
Take a closer look at Colligo Marine adjustable synthetic bobstays! Custom rigging is always available, so you have several options for your bowsprit. Featured on these bobstays are Colligo Marine Line Terminators and Spinnaker Furlers.