Just Toying with this Idea Right Now

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

My friends boat, 2 slips away from me, is an identical hunter to yours including the roller furler.

I think you could set up a solent stay from roughly a foot beneath the forestay on the mast to the deck just aft of the chain locker and use the chain locker bulkhead as your anchor point. Then measure the new foretriangle area and pick up a used sail with hanks to fly from it.
The most expensive part of the whole mess is the method to tension the wire.

That's exactly what I had in mind! Then just pull the headsail in and hank the staysail on.

Could I use snatchblocks on the toerail for leads? I'm not looking for racing performance. I have no interest in trying to get optimal time toward destination in a storm. If I'm caught in a storm ("storm" not necessarily meaning EXTREME storm conditions). I just want to improve the boat's stability and keep her maneuverable. (Not blowing out the headsail would be nice too.

After our discussion here about what storms are, I had an interesting discussion with another sailor, who said he wasn't heading home tomorrow because of the "50% chance of storms." Since that's really unusual here in the second half of October, I checked the weather reports. It said "30% chance of ... RAIN." There was a front coming through, but at this time of year sometimes you can't even judge when the front has passed because they're pretty weak by the time they get here even if they've caused havoc and chaos in the midwest.

Same person is already calling the messy air over Jamaica "TS Sandy." Well, that may or may not happen, but it hadn't happened yet at the time of the conversation (haven't seen today's weather yet).

I don't want to underestimate mother Nature but no point in exaggerating her either. Just want to be ready, and it's pretty clear that in a storm I'm going to have to not use the roller furler and have a plan B.

[ctl411]

Ok heavy air. You can get staysails with a cable built in or setup a removable stay inside of your headstay. This turns your boat into a slutter. You will need a halyard and tang 2/3 of the way up the mast. If you have a chain locker like the 37c there is a bulkhead for the deck chainplate.

[engele]

Or several companies will build a sleeve to hank a storm jib around your furled headsail.