Shroud tension???

[WD]

Well, No Name(yet) is finally in the ocean, 50hp and 8hp both functional, mast up, boom on but with questions...

The mast was raised by the boat yard with fork lift assistance and before i was present. I need to measure the rake somehow because it seems to me a tad exaggerated and there seems a lot of slack in the shrouds. So i am wondering how taught the shrouds should be and how to adjust them. One of them in particular seems a lot of slack and i can almost pull it by hand into the next hole on the shackle - and therein lies the issue - almost by hand. Anyone with experience on tensioning after all is standing?

Soon, just for sport) will be(if i can figure out how) a poll on the names we have come up with.


Cheers, Bill

[WD]

PXL_20230616_234918460.jpg

[WD]

And does anyone happen to know the length of the mast(need distance to determine type of coax antenna to radio).


Cheers

[Stickinthemud57]

Congrats on the project!

I don't own an X, but a good place to start might be the manual, which can be found at the following link: https://www.macgregorsailors.com/resources.html

[WD]

Thanks Stickinthemud57, i have that manual and various years manuals and various videos however none are very helpful especially on how to adjust. It will sort out tho, with a little help from my friends.


Cheers, Bill

[WD]

Ahhh ha! Pg 2 28' above deck.

mac26xbrochure.pdf

[Russ]

26X mast rake is 7-10 degrees

Mast height: 28ft (8.5m) above deck cabin. Approx. 36ft (11m) above water line

[leefrankpierce]

There is a turnbuckle in the front stay, the side ones tend to be a pin that gets set and left alone.
The light weight and rigging of the entire boat (relative to true ocean boats) means our shroud tension should be "snug" but not so you can play a song on it.
We are light weight so we can be trailered, and that keeps the rigging from getting the stresses that the heavier boats get.
As far as mast rake, the boat is designed like that so that it has some weather helm, that makes it safer so that when the wind overpowers the boat, it will spin into the wind instead of being blown down.
To get a bit more performance, I took some of that rake out, enough that it spins away from the wind and I still have a noticeable rake to my mast.

FYI: The boat is designed to have the mast lowered and raised by hand, so you can lower it to install your coax.
Many of us who's boat lives on our trailer have a pulley/pole rig called a "mast raising system" so we can stow/raise the mast easily.
Can be done using the halyard and wenches + a pulley.

[WD]

Thanks Russ, i will figure a way to measure the rake, cheers.

Thanks leefrankpierce, I was looking for any advice on changing the shroud tension after the mast has been raised. I do have the mast raising system and based on the non information so far i suppose i am going to have to use it to lower the mast and change the pin hole position for the side shroud - i have considerably more slack than "snug". I didn't want to lower the mast while the boat is wet if i can avoid and to do it on trailer would take better than .5 day since trailer in storage and launch ram is a ways from marina.

Since i'm not yet used to sailing her, i think it best to have a bit of weather helm rather than lee helm like yours so i'll stick with Russ's suggestion for rake angle, assuming i figure out how to measure it , cheers


Bill

[dlandersson]

You clearly do not understand, as the original poster does, that reading the manual is for only after all else has failed.

Congrats on the project!

I don't own an X, but a good place to start might be the manual, which can be found at the following link: https://www.macgregorsailors.com/resources.html

[dlandersson]

There should be quite a thread on adjusting the tension, I seem to recall 2012 - 13?

Thanks Stickinthemud57, i have that manual and various years manuals and various videos however none are very helpful especially on how to adjust. It will sort out tho, with a little help from my friends.


Cheers, Bill

[closehaul]

WD, Process I used for setting rake (2000 26X) was on the trailer on a flat LEVEL parking lot. Assuming you have a water line on the hull: you can use the tongue jack, a tape measure, and trigonometry to lower the bow until you are setting on the parking lot with bow down 7~10 deg. Then simply use a level to adjust the mast vertical in this condition. When you launch in the water your mast will be raked back 7~10 deg. I found that 10 deg was way tooooo much and the boom hit my bimini when close-hauled. Probably moves the 'center of effort' aft where it should be - but I am not a racer. One tip: I added 90deg eye jaw toggles to my shrouds which rotates the pin and ring dings 90 degrees, much easier to install pins and gives a degree of freedom that keep the shroud adjuster channel from spreading. No problems snagging on sheets. Good luck, Closehaul

[Maraquita]

Regarding adjusting the shrouds, I have always been able to use 2 pointed scratch awls of about 1/4" diameter. Find the hole that is about half way centered and force the point of the awl in. Then remove the existing pin and force the awl the rest of the way. This will bring another hole to about the half way centered position, so you do the same thing with the second awl. Keep going until it is as tight as you want it. How tight that is and where the mast should be is a whole nother argument. I sail a 26D, so am completely unable to help with that.

I have seen a neat little wrench (try BWY) for adjusting the verniers. It appears to stick into one hole and then pivot the next hole down. By the time I think to buy one, I already have the shrouds adjusted using the 2 awls.

[Be Free]

26X mast rake is 7-10 degrees

Mast height: 28ft (8.5m) above deck cabin. Approx. 36ft (11m) above water line

I hate to argue with the boss but the 26X manual (page 12) says that the mast to to deck angle is 94 degrees. Wouldn't that be a 4 degree rake aft?

[Be Free]

And does anyone happen to know the length of the mast(need distance to determine type of coax antenna to radio).


Cheers

My radio is mounted just inside the companionway. The coax runs between the liner top and the cabin top. I bought 60' of coax when I put an antenna on the top of the mast and had a little more than I needed.