Hello fellow association members. My wife, Josephine, and I are the other new MS300 owners this year, headed to the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. We are sailers, but the the motorsailer thing is a new and intriguing adventure for us. Among our many questions is this: Our boat came with two forestays, one about 18 inches aft of the main forestay, which is equipped with a furler. We also have a foredeck boom -- a staysail boom we are calling it. Our question is: Why do we have this second forestay? Is it a blessing in disguise or just a redundant pain? I have looked online and the MS 300s I see haven't had them. And we have both a jib and a jenny, with the jib winch in the pilothouse and the jenny winches on both sides behind the helm. It seems that if we use the furler we would have to fully retract the sail on every tack. On the other hand, with one forestay and the jib in the furler, we could handle everything from the pilothouse.
In a brief discussion with the previous owner, I asked about the second forestay and he just said the boat didn't need it and we could remove it if we wanted to. He also said he didn't often use the jenny because the boat didn't heel well in heavy winds, and in light winds they just cranked up the big diesel. So, the second forestay -- does it stay or does it go? Thanks very much.
Tony Brown
CD Motorsailer question .....
Moderator: Jim Walsh
Re: CD Motorsailer question .....
Hey Tony,
Welome to the sailboat "club", so much to learn, so much to spend!
I might suggest trying it out with the staysail stay rigged at first or at least rigged and tied off to a shroud so you could sail it both ways this season and see what you wind up using most. I guess though, you would need only genny on the roller furler and the main for 90% of the time. Still, it would be fun to rig the staysail/staysail boom up and try it all out, especially in a nice 15knot breeze. I'd be happy to help do that with you. Plus, I volunteer my brother, who will be watching this thread closely from out west right now but may be unable to respond quickly!
Welome to the sailboat "club", so much to learn, so much to spend!
I might suggest trying it out with the staysail stay rigged at first or at least rigged and tied off to a shroud so you could sail it both ways this season and see what you wind up using most. I guess though, you would need only genny on the roller furler and the main for 90% of the time. Still, it would be fun to rig the staysail/staysail boom up and try it all out, especially in a nice 15knot breeze. I'd be happy to help do that with you. Plus, I volunteer my brother, who will be watching this thread closely from out west right now but may be unable to respond quickly!
Paul
CDSOA Member
CDSOA Member
Re: CD Motorsailer question .....
Thanks very much Paul. Tied off shrouds! We will add that to our list. Much obliged.
Re: CD Motorsailer question .....
Update: Turns out that the additional stay was added by the previous owner. We're thinking of going back to the original rigging as designed.