When we purchased Solace it didn't have a forestay and yet we had running back stays. A pad eye was on the foredeck where perhaps a forestay should attach to, but that was just attached to the deck with no support from below such as a bulkhead. We decided we wanted a forestay, but with suitable support from below to take care of loads; as we intended to use it for a storm jib. Here's what we did.
The padeye was above our anchor locker which had no convenient bulkhead to attach to. So we created and glassed in a false bulkhead in a "V" shape to allow the anchor chain to continue to lay down. This was then finished off with a coat of "Flowcoat"; an air cure gelcoat.
Two rods were shackled to the new bulkhead. These had turnbuckles for adjustment of tension and PVC tube placed over for protection from the anchor chain.
Shackle to bulkhead
Finally, the padeye on the deck was replaced with a folding padeye which matched the one seen here under the deck. Reinforcing between the padeye and underside of the deck was also undertaken. The two padeyes where then secured through the deck with countersunk bolts and nuts. The two rods where then shackled to the underside padeye to provide the support need for the forestay. We finished with installing our forestay and used a quick coupling cam lever to attached and remove the forestay from the padeye when not needed. Perhaps unluckily, one storm has proved it's effectiveness and I'm convinced our mast stands today because we had the forestay and running backs attached when a shroud broke.
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