Hello all,

I sail cat rigged but I'm currently using the sloop rigged bridal that came with the boat for no other reason than convenience when putting the mast up and down on my own.

I notice that most cat rigged boats have a higher bridal.

Is there a "preferred" length or do you just have it high as you can while still being easy to work with when rigging?

Cheers

You'll need the sloop bridle when you put a spinnaker on!

Meanwhile, if you are going cat rigged without a spinnaker for a while then go for it. There's no need to go as high as possible. If it's around chest or face height when you're rigging that's enough to make a difference.

It takes a lot of the sideways load off the hulls and helps to reduce the amount that the platform "walks" through waves upwind.

Of course you can't do this if your bridle chainplates are horizontal like mine. In that case they will bend upwards and damage the hulls.

Here is a neat way to construct this kind of bridle.



It's just one piece of wire (I think about 2.5m is a good length) with a piece of a thimble clamped (with a vice) in the middle to give the rope something bigger to bear on. The thimble is a large one designed for 4 or 5mm wire - the centre part is cut out to get the desired radius.

I have wondered if it would work without even bothering with the thimble. It all depends on how the rope handles being tied around the wire.

Thanks Tim.

I wasn't quite sure what you meant by Horizontal. Have attached a photo of where mine are... think it should be OK?.

I noticed during my recent repair and repaint that my starboard hull has had a repair done previously, inside @ front beam. The repair seems to have been done very well however I'm thinking it might be wise to leave putting a kite on till I can afford to deal with the possibility of breaking both bows off.<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

As I have fessed up to on another thread, I reckon I have plenty to learn sailing her as is before joining the kite brigade, but I am getting a lot of pleasure from the learning. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Your chainplate is aligned vertically, whereas mine lays flat as it comes out of the hull.



So yours is ok. If I put a high cat-rig bridle on mine it would bend the chainplates upwards and damage the gelcoat (and maybe worse) around it.

Thanks Tim.