Cutter rig upgrade

[vela42]

i have a 1993 42' catalina. the previous owner installed an inner stay (cutter rig) and all of the gear necessary. It has sailed to south america and back to san fran without worry but i do not know any details of the trip. My concern is the amount of load on the mast. the running backstays are 5:1 with cam cleats. I set that hard and i feel i get a ton of bend in the mast when flying the staysail in heavy winds. At the dock i can pull on the inner stay and create a lot of "pumping in the mast. This is the first boat i have owned with a inner stay so i do not know what is normal.

I actually want to remove this set up and add to my sail inventory before leaving to Mexico this October. The boat was not designed for this and i am not sure if the mast can take the loads in heavy conditions. Tto me it just feels like a ton of load in the middle of the mast trying to snap it in half??

any advise is greatly appreciated,
Chris

[Brian Duff]

The inner forestay and running backstays actually make the mast stronger. The use of and innerforestay and staysail also improve the handling and versatility of your boat in heavy weather. If the runners do not provide enough support, increase the load that you can apply to them. On boats the size of yours and up, we set up runners either 1:1 or 2:1 to a winch so as to be able to tension the inner forestay with them.

I say keep the gear, and add to your sail inventory by getting a selection of staysails, genoa and yankee headsails, a storm trysail, a storm staysail and of course a big reacher and assym spinnaker too !

[Brion Toss]

What material are the runners? How long are the tackles when they are set up -- that is, how far above the deck are the upper blocks?
I am with Brian on leading to the winch; 5:1 is an almost decorative amount of purchase compared to the loads it opposes.
As for your concerns about snapping the mast, it is highly unlikely, even with the current setup; your mast was designed for sloop loads, so it is fabulously strong for a cutter.
One other option I'd consider would be a Solent stay, which doesn't need runners at all, and which also allows for a hank-on drifter. So you can bracket both sides of the Genoa's range on the Solent.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss