I’m just lucky I guess

[Chumpy36]

Apparently my boat a 19 9226S, is a bit of a in between year. It did not come with the baby stay holes, 5 foot seven up the mast, nor the straps on the deck. I bought all the hardware from the good folks at Bluewater and the instructions seem pretty clear, but I wanted to see if anyone had any advice before I tackle this job. Thanks all.

[kmclemore]

Not much advice apart from measure three times, then drill!

When installed, the baby stays should be pretty dang tight - at the very least with little to no slack, since for every bit of slack you end up with a large amount of sway in the mast as it goes down. I made ours tight enough that I have to give it a good pull to get the straps to slip onto the bolt on the mast... this allows the mast be easily winched down, needing no hand guidance whatsoever to drop right onto the support post in the cockpit. It essentially becomes a one-man job if they are tight. So, to get them tight, make the hole in the mast the last one you drill, and position the bolt hole it so that the stays have zero slack, regardless of the measurement given in the instructions.

[NiceAft]

There was another thread on the recently. Highlander posted this:

the first one,s also had a rotating Mast thus no backstay then they went to a masthead rig , added spreaders & a backstay

Does yours have a rotating mast?

[Chumpy36]

I don’t think so. What’s a rotating mast other than the obvious? And how would I know? Thx

[Chumpy36]

Dumb question. I guess I should do this with the mast up?

[Stickinthemud57]

Not to discount the wisdom of kmclemore's advice, but I don't agree that the baby stays need to be "pretty dang tight". It is important that they are not so slack that they allow the mast to gain momentum when falling one way or another before the stay comes into play. Mine are not tight by any stretch (pun intended), and I have not run into any trouble. It is certainly possible to have them too loose. I would say as tight as you can get them while still being easy to remove.

[Chumpy36]

But the baby stays are adjustable are they not? I can tighten them up after installation if they are too loose?

[kmclemore]

I would say as tight as you can get them while still being easy to remove.

That was more or less my point. By not having any slack in the cables you make it very easy to single-handedly lower the mast right onto the crutch.

[LakeMac26C]

The PO installed baby stays on my 26C (but left the hauling line about 4ft too short!). They work great for raising and lowering the mast! Mine are reasonably slack too and sometimes miss the custom mast crutch in the back of the boat. It's extremely easy to nudge the mast to center it though. Mine has pins at the base for easy removal, but the tops are permanently swagged to the mast. It also came with plate adjusters to adjust the tension. I guess I should adjust them again to further take out the slack.