Hi,

Just acquired an old (pre ’73) H14 that has a sort of turbo conversion, in that it has a jib and jib halyard (but no roller furling or swivel), and has a dolphin striker and trapeze lines.

However it doesn’t seem to have standard rigging; the shrouds are only 15’ 6/8” (4.59m), and as I understand in even the new (post ’83) shrouds are about 15’ 3 ¼” and the older ones even longer than that so I suspect it has too much mast rake as when I rig the shrouds to the top hole of the chainplate adjuster, the forestay still doesn’t reach the adjuster on the bridle, it’s about 8” short. This is despite the fact that that the forestay and bridle are longer than they perhaps should be according to the measurements on the web. Forestay is 14’6” (4.4m) which apparently should be 13’10”, and the bridle is 6’10” (2.1m) and should only be 5’8”.

I suspect that it maybe has rigging from a different dinghy, can anyone please confirm what the actual lengths should be, and also at what height the mast tang should be? I have 2 mast tangs at 4.5m and 4.58m up from the extrusion / base join, I suspect neither are original as there are old rivets between the two.

Currently the shrouds and the forestay are shackled to the higher tang, the lower tang has a block shackled to it for the jib halyard, and the trapeze wire; I guess it makes sense to have the rigging going to the upper one so that the jib can be hoisted under forestay?


What is a good general rake angle that the mast should be (for just general messing about, not racing) I could then adjust the lengths of rigging accordingly (e.g. add extension adjuster plates etc)? I have read that some people put as much rake in as possible, i.e. until the main sheet blocks touch each other, other people have told me that is too much rake, and also that by the time the blocks are touching it should be thru mast bend rather than rake? Can you actually have too much mast rake or should I just use the shorter shrouds, have lots of rake, and extend the forestay to reach? What about the fact that I (presumably) have an old style mast base, how much rake will that allow?

In these pics I have rigged it to allow about 45deg of turn in a shroud when it is on the (lengthened with rope) forestay, obviously they go tight when the job halyard is pulled tight, which also makes the forestay go a little slack, does this look at all correct? How about the mast rake, look anything near right?

Should there be a swivel on the jib halyard?

Sorry for the long post, but would appreciate your thoughts on how best to get a basic setup as I am much more use to keelboats than dinghies.

Many thanks,

Anthony