Bobstay question

[thuss]

We have a Hans Christian 38 cutter which has 5/8" clevis pins on all the rigging including the bobstay. We have 3/8" 1x19 wire all over and a -17 Navtec rod for the bobstay (which is the largest navtec rod you can put on a 5/8" clevis pin). My concern is that our 3/8" wire roughly has a breaking strength of 14,500 and the Navtec rod is roughly 17,000 lbs. Assuming everything else is sound it would make the bobstay the weak link in the rig.

So my question is, with a 5/8" clevis pin is my only option to replace the cranse iron and the bobstay fitting on the hull to get a larger clevis pin size to support a larger bobstay?

Here's a photo of the bobstay arrangement:



Thanks,
Todd

--
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[Brion Toss]

Hello,
The bobstay is only a weak link if its strength is not in proportion to the jibstay's. While this is possible -- and you certainly want to be sure of the bobstay -- it would be good to run the numbers on loads. You might, for instance, only need 5/16" wire on the jibstay, in which case a 3/8" bobstay could be okay.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss