C14 side and forestay lengths

mikemendes1958

New Member
All - I am helping somsone who just purchased a C-14. He feels that it is not setup properly, and I am hoping I can find somewhere (Or get from someone) the lengths of the side and forestays. I have been unable to find them on line. I can find mast and boom lengths. Is there a section in the forum with rigging info? Or has someone here measured their stays?

Thank you in advance!
 
Thanks Karl - that is very helpful! While the North tuning guide has forestay length, it does not have sidestay lengths. I am concerned that they may not be the correct length. Any idea where I could find that?
 
The page linked above says to pull the mast forward, then check the measurement from the top of the mast to the center of the transom. Target is 21’ 10 1/2” to 21’11”. You adjust your shrouds evenly until you get that measurement.
 
Yes, I saw that. It doesn't say what the actual length of the shrouds should be. All that tells me is that the forestay and side stays SHOULD be correct, if it falls in that range. I am not going to assume that they are the correct length, when the boat is decades old and has had many owners. I just want as much info as I can get. TX
 
Per the 42 page Capri 14.2 Manual I found on this site, it states on page 18 that the Shroud length is 15'7" and the Forestay length is 15'2 1/4"

HTH
Jeff
 
So my 1986 Mod 1 needed new shrouds. I measured a skosh under 15.8' (my tape was in decimals). .83=10", so this equates to about 15'10". Now if you check with Catalina Direct, the ones they sell premade were about an inch shorter! Glad I had them custom make mine to duplicate what I had, that one inch shorter would have made a difference. And 15'7" would have been a disaster for my boat! And CD didn't charge extra to do so. I would suggest doing what I did here, just lay out whatever you're replacing and carefully measure, then there's no doubt!
 

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The January 2013 revision to the owners manual/C14.2 specs now lists the shroud length (center of eye to pin) as 15' 4.5". So, that should be the length for boats built after 2012. CDs website length for prior to 2013 was 15' 7" I think. Look at the CD site for specifics. So, I am pretty sure that my 2015 14.2, mod3, has the shorter length, still covered for winter or I could measure. My guess is that this all relates more to the shroud adjusters which have been in use and maybe because Catalina switched to Selden spars, maybe about 2013. My shroud adjusters have at least thirteen pin positions and would handle any of those dimensions, I just used whatever gave me the mast rake which I wanted and sufficient tension for leaving the boat at the dock all season; shrouds are tensioned enough they only have some slack in them when close hauling in more than five knots or so of breeze. No flop in the rig at all at the dock even with choppy water or when sailing down wind.
So, if replacing the shrouds I would order from CD based on the hull number and be sure that my shroud adjusters either had enough adjustments or buy new ones which work.
Hopefully I will be rigging in a week or so for the summer and can measure the shrouds when the boat is uncovered; but I suspect that will be irrelevant info for an older mod 1 or mod 2.
Good sailing!
 
Thanks to all! The shrouds appear to be a bit of a question mark since the handbook says 15' 7", and aquaman says 15' 8" at least. But that gives me a great starting point to work from.
 
I was using an engineer's field measurement tape, which showed the 15 and 8 tenths feet that you see in the pic. 8 tenths of a foot converts to 10". So I would say 15'9 3/4" is about what I measured. Like I said, if I would have ordered the ones showed on their website (and I confirmed with their tech guy) the new shrouds would have been 15'7", which would have been problematic!
 

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