The J/109 Class Association Forum

I am a new owner of a 2007 J-109. I've been setting it up for racing in San Francisco (where average wind speed is stronger than most places) and discovered that the backstay does not have enough throw to tighten it enough in stronger breeze - the hydraulic bottoms out, even in 10 knots. And when I loosed the hydraulic all the way at the dock its floppy loose, like I could take a couple inches out and still be loose. The headstay length is actually about 7/8 inches short. If I loosened the headstay to get to length prescribed in the J-109 manual that came with the boat, the backstay would be even looser.

So I am thinking the SS shaft connected to the hydraulic adjuster is just too long, by 3-4 inches. That is an eyebrow raiser. Anyone ever have this issue? Can I get a shorter SS shaft? Is there another remedy? Anyone replace that big shaft with a rod or aramid rope solution?

Thanks for feedback.

Hi, I think this is a fairly common issue. Solution was to shorten the backstay, not the shaft. In my case I had my rigger shorten it by 4 inches, but probably could have done 5 or 6 inches. See this past thread: https://j109.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1020
Congrats on the the new 109!
Phoenix 251

Thanks Mvallus, the question now is whether there is too much rake, causing the backstay to appear to be too long. Is your rake measurement in line with the Quantum or North tuning guides? Have you done a rake measurement using the main halyard hanging down with a weight?