Shroud tensioning

[DaveC426913]

I set up my rig last week and - for the first time in 14 years - I cannot get my forestay attached - and that's with two people trying. I had no choice but to take off the port shrouds to get the forestay up. And then, I couldn't get the shrouds back on even loosest setting!

I checked to see if there are any kinks at the swage thimbles.
I sort of put it down to bends in the shrouds from overwintering, but that should have eased up by now.

I could barely even get the backstay on.

It's as if my mast has grown an inch over the winter.

Anyway, it's back together but just barely. I'm afraid if I take it out like it is I'll just end up sailing in circles!

So, I guess I'd better tension them properly. The tension gauge is easy enough to get hold of, but what about the actual tightening of the Vernier adjusters? I can't haul a hundred pounds, or whatever it is**. I recall seeing a device that looks like a pair of pliers with clevis pins on the tips, but I don't recall if that was a real product or just something someone here cobbled together.

Suggestions?


** Anybody know offhand what the shroud tension is supposed to be?

[DaveC426913]

OK, I just stumbled across this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=25368
Lots of good stuff there.

But under no circumstances is my forestay coming off before end-of-season.

Here's my plan:

• Go buy 2 awls - gonna bring a vernier adjuster with me to check size.
• Adjust backstay till I have 3 maybe 4 degrees of mast rake and a little bend.
• Level boat to waterline then use a plumb bob on the main halyard to give it a rake of about 17 1/2" from vertical.
• Tighten shrouds until they're less than guitar tight.
• Check everything again.

[pitchpolehobie]

https://defender.com/en_us/loos-rigging ... 91-model-a

Loos guage.expensive. borrowed one at my marina. No one has given me a concrete amount of correct tension on a 26X however.

[Russ]

I would be concerned with that much of a change.

I've had similar when the shackle at the top of the mast was not correct.

I would check, double, triple check standing rigging to ensure nothing is amiss.

[Wyb2]

To state the obvious - if it was fine before, and now it’s not, something changed. You want to find the change and figure out if it’s a problem.

One of the first times I raised the mast one of the shroud thimbles flipped on the shroud adjuster. It’s hard to explain in words, but it can rotate and catch in a goofy orientation where no amount of tension will flip it back. I was tightening the turnbuckle at the forestay and wondering why there was so much more thread than last time. By the time I decided to stop and figure it out, I had bent both the thimble and adjuster plate slightly. If it had been up the mast, might not have realized what the problem was.

[Jimmyt]

Agree. Seems there’s something amok with that cheese cake.

[Be Free]

100% on the previous post. If you did not change anything then something is not right. Look for a fitting that is twisted or a little out of position. It does not take much to make a big difference.

[Jimmyt]

I had the slightest burr on my mast base that snagged on the mast step bracket, preventing the mast base from dropping all the way into the bracket. Took me awhile to find it, but I couldn’t get the forestay pinned (and my rig is much sloppier than an X).

All of that to say, there are lots of places to check.

[closehaul]

Echo Jimmyt - My problem was the bolt attaching the mast to the mast base was too tight not allowing the mast base to fall completely into the mast step. Loosened bolt/ cleaned up some white rust and galling burrs/ problem disappeared. Closehaul

[DaveC426913]

[*]Tighten shrouds until they're less than guitar tight.

You know what they don't tell you with the awls? They don't work of you're already at the loosest setting. There's nowhere to insert the awls!

Loos guage.expensive. borrowed one at my marina.

Yes. I knew they were, but went to the chandlery anyway to check. They start at $200.

No one has given me a concrete amount of correct tension on a 26X however.

Yeah, me too neither. "Tight but not guitar string tight" is all I've found.

I would check, double, triple check standing rigging to ensure nothing is amiss.

I have checked several times- especially:

It’s hard to explain in words, but it can rotate and catch in a goofy orientation where no amount of tension will flip it back.

Very familiar with this. Happens all the time with the MRS "baby" stays. That was my first (and second) suspicion.

I had the slightest burr on my mast base that snagged on the mast step bracket, preventing the mast base from dropping all the way into the bracket.

My problem was the bolt attaching the mast to the mast base was too tight not allowing the mast base to fall completely into the mast step.

Thanks. Will add these to my next checklist.

If I don't find anything I'll have no choice but to drop the mast. 'course that might shake the problem out and I'd never know it until I put it back up.



BTW, I took her out today for a milk run. It was very light winds, so I wasn't worried about the stick coming down on my head. It was just enough to shake out the sails, and tweak the running rigging.

Nice soft start to the season.

[Dguy]

Just as an additional safety measure to prevent the mast dropping on my head I have installed a second safety shroud Attached to the top of the mast and forward pullpit and parallel to the furler withoud tensioning it.
That will give me more time to take (avoiding) action.

[DaveC426913]

Just as an additional safety measure to prevent the mast dropping on my head I have installed a second safety shroud Attached to the top of the mast and forward pullpit and parallel to the furler withoud tensioning it.
That will give me more time to take (avoiding) action.

Yeah, I've considered that. I've got a spare jib halyard ready to go.

[DaveC426913]

Is ... is this what they mean by "mast bend"?

[Jimmyt]

[NiceAft]

Is ... is this what they mean by "mast bend"?