Thanks, Jason! I hear ya on the stock stuff. Fortunately, mine sounds like the internal, continuous adjustment type so that I'm not groping around the tiller area. My backstay controls are right at my hip on both sides and I pull & play them like a 15-year old on his first date. Wish I had these on my windsurfer since they're so sensitive to powering up and spilling off.

By the way, if others are interested, Ballenger did not have any issues about using a short length of spectra below deck, which I'll do for an interim fix.

Have a spankin' time this Saturday at the "Fair Loins" as my little nephew calls 'em.

:: Get rid of that entire stock backstay system! It is easy
:: to do and will make your life much easier as the driver.
:: You need to make the backstay system work as one system.
:: Not two seperate adjustments that require constant
:: adjusting. There isn't enough throw in the back of the
:: boat for the singal system to exit below the tiller.
:: Plus you have to turn around to adjust which takes your
:: attention off where you are going.
::
:: The best systems are either a continuous adjusting
:: system inside the boat, or my favorite, the continuous
:: external system. There are pictures on this site of how
:: we did the backstay on Exocet and Moxie. I believe Magic
:: Bus and Lorax also have the same external system. This
:: works great for us and is easy to adjust.
::
:: So, before you go spending money on replacing the
:: original blocks, take a look at how others are adjusting
:: their backstays.
::
:: Cheers,

:: Jason
::
::
:: :: Need some help from the community out there. Even you,
:: :: Mike B.! I'm replacing a short (about two feet) length
:: :: of cable and two attached blocks that is the
:: :: intermediary between the outside backstay & the in-hull
:: :: sheet/block system.
:: ::
:: :: I'm having difficulty locating the steel blocks for wire
:: :: cable at svendson's and west marine, so I'm thinking
:: :: about replacing the steel cable with spectra and using
:: :: regular non-metal sheave blocks. I realize there would
:: :: be a little stretch but at two feet of spectra, it can't
:: :: be much. Should I stay with steel cable? -Thanks!