Rigging Improvements
As purchased, standing rigging had been replaced within 10 years and was in good shape. The prior owner had not used the staysail and had lost some of the inner stay rigging. Most of the running rigging was in poor shape.
Replace Running Rigging
The running rigging is in need of replacement. All halyards are still sound but badly worn in places. The jib sheets are in bad shape with risk of parting. This is a short term undertaking and neither very expensive or time consuming.
Cabintop Lines
There are two cabintop winches and two large cleats on the cabintop. Just aft of the mainsheet traveller and forward of the winches there are two openning hatches. The traveller lines are led just outside the hatches to cam cleats. Currently the main sheet and mainsail vang are led back to the cabintop winches inboard of the hatches.
It would be nice to lead lines back to the cockpit. If single line reefing is used, the three reefing lines and main halyard would allow mainsail reefing from within the cockpit using only four additional lines. With the two existing lines this leaves two spare. This would require line organizers and rope clutches. The space the hatches and the companionway hatch turtle shell is small. It might be possible to put a Schaefer 5-series or 7-series stacked double line organizer on each side approximately under the traveller and put a quad Spinlock XTS rope clutch on each side. The 5-series is limited to 7/16 line, the 7-series ½" line. The rope clutch is under 5¼" wide with about 1¼" between lines. The 7-series line organizer is 7" wide but the two lines are about 3" from each other (horizontally). The 5-series is just over 5¾" wide. There is a chance this would fit but careful measurements need to be taken.
Staysail Standing Rigging
An light stay which could be the inner stay came with the boat. There was no turnbuckle. At some point it will be necessary to go up the mast and attach this stay to determine if this is the inner stay. A turnbuckle will be needed.
The staysail boom had been connected to the inner stay at the turnbuckle. An jib boom pedestal will be purchased. The pin diameter on the boom will have to be measured before selecting a jib boom pedestal and gooseneck toggle. A variety of gooseneck toggles are available. Reef hooks would be helpful to allow a hanked on staysail to be reefed.
Mizzen Rigging
The mizzen mast has no permanent backstay. The shrouds are swept slightly aft and there are running backstays. The mizzen sheet is end boom and has a single attachment point on the aft coaming near the top of the boarding ladder. The lack of permanent backstay and lack of traveller are a concern.
The existing rigging also does not allow solar panels to be mounted aft of the mizzen mast. The boom vang limits space for solar panels near the mizzen mast.
The mizzen boom is about 8’ long and extends slightly beyond the transom. The bail for the vang is 34" from the gooseneck. This leaves just under 5’ for solar panels. Many houshold panels are available in 64" length which is 5’4" and a little too long even with end boom sheeting. Smaller panels are available but at much higher cost per watt.
If a solar mount is combined with a very sturdy davit, the davit could provide a mount for a permanent split backstay plus a mount for a traveller, with either end boom or mid boom sheeting. If two smaller solar panels are mounted on each side, the gap between them could accomodate mid boom sheeting. This seems like the best solution, adding some solar capacity, providing a permanent split backstay and providing either a mid boom or end boom traveller.
It is getting increasingly difficult to get solar panels with Vmpp of close to 60V. Many nominally 24V panels have a Vmpp of less than 30V so for these panels even two panels in series is not quite enough. Many supplier web pages provide only minimal specifications, such as wattage and nominal panel voltage. Some digging is needed to get full specs.