Reaching strut
These are somewhat "old school" now-especially on smalll boats. They are a spinnaker pole-like tube which attaches to a fitting on each side of the mast, usually a padeye with a ring (The Schaeffer catalog should have a drawing of a reaching strut fitting-if they don't, the Kenyon Spars or any spar builder would have it in their catalog).
The other end of the strut allows the AFTERGUY to run through it. These are used ONLY when close reaching with a spinnaker (pole on or nearly on the headstay), the idea being to hold the afterguy outboard primarily so that it does not lean on the stanchions (and bend them), and secondarily to improve the angle of the afterguy in terms of how it loads the pole. Without a strut, the afterguy is going almost straight back to the stern, which mostly compresses the pole into the mast. By running the afterguy through the end of the strut, the guy is now rotating the pole end AFT-instead of shoving it directly into the mast.
When broad reaching or running with the pole farther aft, the guy is no longer laying agaisnt the stanchions, and the angle is better so that pulling on the afterguy is rotating the pole end aft-so the strut is not neccessary.
Sounds like a good idea, but in reality, most people now use "tweakers" or a snatch block forward to lead the afterguy in such a way that the stanchions are not being bent, and frankly the loads on a boat of this size are small enough that even thought the angle of the afterguy to the pole is not ideal, you can still use it and manage to pull the pole aft.
Unless you had a 45+ footer, you really don't need it, and when you consider it is only used when very close reaching with the sym. kite, it is a lot of work, expense, and space being taken up when storing it for very little use and benefit.
My advice: pass.
Cheers,
S
