Hi,
I am considering buying a BCC but may have trouble fitting the 38’loa into my 37’slip. The marina police are extremely strict on overhanging the dock.
I read in a posting about removing a fid and sliding the bowsprit back. Is it really that easy?
If you do so, do you have to worry about the integrity of the rig at all?
Thanks!!
Yes it is that easy, but…
You can’t have roller furling, at least not the standard kind. One with a flexible forestay might work.
You also need a flexible bobstay. A Rod bobstay makes it harder, but not impossible.
The rig is very stable with a slack forestay. Just mark your turnbuckle and re tighten to the mark when your ready to go.
Hope this helps.
Yes it is that easy, but…
You can’t have roller furling, at least not the standard kind. One with a flexible head stay might work.
You also need a flexible bob stay. A Rod bob stay makes it harder, but not impossible.
The rig is very stable with a slack forestay. Just mark your turnbuckle and re tighten to the mark when your ready to go.
Hope this helps.
The “reefing bowsprit” idea has quite a few problems. It’s a hassle to unscrew the 4 turnbuckles that keep the bowsprit firmly backed into the bits, so you can drive out the fid. If you don’t want to sail the boat for some considerable time (months?), it might be worth the trouble, but it doesn’t seem like a long term solution to a slip that’s not long enough.
Our sprit has ended up with scratched up paint whenever I’ve moved it, either in or out. If you only want to move the sprit back one foot for a few months, it’s doable, but… The roller furling on the jib stay would probably have to be disconnected and hung over the side–no big deal. Many BCC’s have anchor rollers mounted several feet forward of the stem, so the sprit is prevented from being pulled aft very far. Shaula also has a swivel block about halfway out the sprit for the furling line and that would also prevent pulling the sprit aft even if the anchor rollers weren’t there. Many BCC’s have self steering wind vanes that increase their LOA beyond 38’.
Good luck. Dan Shaula