How much tension on the shrouds?

[ChockFullOnuts22]

I'm getting ready to tune my shrouds a bit....the sidestays (upper and lower, on both sides) are loose even when the forestay and backstay feel tight. The lowers are much more loose than the uppers are. The shrouds are old, but not fraying...but they've definitely stretched over the years.

The boat is a '72 V2-22 with the factory adjusters; turnbuckle on forestay only.

My question here is: how much tension should be on the lower sidestays as compared to the uppers? Should they have the same amount of tension, or somewhat less?

[flynfol]

Make sure your spreader angle is correct. It has a significant effect on the relationship between upper and lower tension relationship if it has slipped.

[ChockFullOnuts22]

Visually, the spreaders look the same as they have for as long as I can remember...

How do I accurately measure the spreader angle, and what is the target value that I'm looking for?

[flynfol]

I'm thinking 90 degrees to the mast. Mine slipped through numerous raise/lower cycles, and I put them back at 90 (perpendicular to mast when raised) and tension was restored without touching the adjusters.

J

[sailorman6309]

Spreaders should not be 90 degrees to the mast. They should be upward at the outer ends so the angle of the upper shrouds is equal above and below the tips of the spreaders. This provides the best bracing for the mast at that point. Putting the spreaders up at about a 10-degree angle is pretty close.

[ChockFullOnuts22]

Okay...I hadn't adjusted anything yet, so I'm glad you posted the info.

It looks like I am going to have to mess with the sidestay adjusters; not that it looks like I'm going to get the right adjustment out of the stupid things. I don't need to go another "full hole" on them, but that's the only increment of adjustment available. I wish the boat had turnbuckles.

How should the tension on the forestay compare to that of the sidestays? Should they be about equal, or should the forestay be tighter?

[ChockFullOnuts22]

Well, I adjusted the side stays today. They are still not as tight as I would like them, but no longer hang tensionless on one side when underway. The boat naturally sails better now, but the weather helm has increased somewhat. Looking closer at the forestay's chicken head at the top of the mast, the 1/4" bolt has a noticeable "U" bent into it....which explains why I run out of turnbuckle so fast when tensioning the forestay. It looks like I'll be dropping the mast for some hardware replacement. After that, I would assume that I will gain enough additional adjustment on the forestay to get the tension that I'm looking for.

[flynfol]

That makes complete sense Sailorman....I stand corrected. I looked at mine from a distance , and they do angle upward slightly( hard to tell with the aft sweep they have). Another thing to check is whether the cabin top core has crushed do to water intrusion(look from inside the cabin). You may have to shim the compression post when the mast is lowered. Repairing would be best, but shimming can have you in the water quicker.

J

[ChockFullOnuts22]

It's definitely not the cabin core; I checked that early on, and everything is still where it should be. No signs of compression in the fiberglass or the compression post, itself.

I think it's a combination of old, stretched shrouds and a bent forestay bolt at the head of the mast. The forestay is the newest shroud on the boat, and my grandfather did that sometime back in the early '80's.

[Sumner]

I found out that our shrouds weren't near as tight as they should be on our . While sailing in Canada I went on another guy's boat to help him take the mast down (not a Mac) and notice his were much tighter than ours. I asked him how to tell if they are tight enough. He would get his so that with some force you could pull them about 1 1/2 inches towards you from their center position. Now what is "some force"? Different for all of us, but still pull on them and you should feel what I'm talking about. If you can pull them more than 1 1/2 inches easily then they are too loose. If while sailing they get very loose at all on the leeward side they are probably too loose.

If you have chain plates they are pretty easy to adjust just by lowering the mast a little and moving them a hole or two. This is very hard to do with the mast all the way up without some type of tool to take the tension off. You are not going to get them tight enough without a tool or lowering the mast some. We just rigged up the gin pole and lowered the mast a little and cleated it off and made the adjustment. It took a couple ups and downs to get all 4 right, but only took 15 minutes or so total.

Recently, since we are making all new standing rigging for the boat I bought a tension gauge to try and do the job better.

Don't forget that the shrouds along with the forestay are going to determine mast rake, so don't necessarily just start getting the shrouds tighter without keeping track of the rake.

c ya,

Sum

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[ChockFullOnuts22]

Sumner,

Thanks for the info. Mast rake is what I was most worried about messing with. My chain plates are fixed brackets that bolt to the hull, with only one hole above the deck for the shroud adjusters to hook onto. When you say that the chainplates are "easy to adjust just by lowering the mast a little and moving them a hole or two," I think you're referring to the adjusters...but anyway...I did just that. However, I'm afraid that if I move the adjusters any more than I already have, I am going to start raking the mast too far aft. As it is, the boat has plenty of weather helm; let go of the tiller while underway, and she will round right up.

Next time I'm at the boat (probably next week, thanks to the weather) I will have to try your method for checking the tension. I think the shrouds are pulling 2" or more from center right now, though. I know that the shrouds on the leeward side do go somewhat loose while underway, athough they are a LOT better than they were before my adjustments the other day.

[Sumner]

... I'm afraid that if I move the adjusters any more than I already have, I am going to start raking the mast too far aft.....

I know you are out of adjustment on the forestay, but you could remedy that by drilling a couple holes a little further up the mast and moving the top of the forestay up slightly. Also ....

http://www.riggingonly.com/

...can make you a new shorter one very reasonably. We just had them make up a new forestay since I needed swaged on ends. I also bought wire to re-rig the rest of the boat from them and a Tie Down hand swaging tool ...

http://www.tiedown.com/pdf/f151.pdf

.......for about $50.00

Good luck,

Sum

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