Bergstrom & Ridder Rig Problem

[Mark Prymuszewski]

Good morning. I have a customer who has a B&R rig with mains'l in-mast furling. Because of the rake built into the B&R rig the mains'l is tortured furling in and out of the mast. The furling motor has burned out twice. I have only encountered smaller B&R rigs on Hunters. This mast belongs to a Discovery 67 and is only one year old. In my opinion; the flaw is having in-mast furling in something bent like a banana. I have been tasked with reducing the rake of the mast so the furler will work properly. My idea is to relax the entire rig before stepping and taking a measurement for shortening the fore stay once the mast is up. The B&R rig was never intended to have a back stay or running backs. This particular one has a back stay which I will have to lengthen if I shorten the fore stay. It is a three spreader discontinuous rig with fourteen turnbuckles between the diagonals, reverse diagonals and verticals. I feel the solution will not be as simple as my idea. Has anyone encountered this problem? Any suggestions will be appreciated.