Hey, What's This Thing?

[Octaman]

.
Well then, . . . that explains it!

[Phil M]

I tried to make one of those shroud tensioners, but it kept slipping off as the tension increased. Might have to buy one instead, as the shrouds might need checking again in the future.

[ALX357]

As mentioned long ago, almost past memory, I found the easiest and most readily obtained method of shroud tensioning is to use a pair of pointed scratch awls. Sort of like a marlinspike, .... 'hope you know what I mean. They are readily available at hardware stores. I tiethered my two awls together with a couple of feet of line to ensure keeping track of them, ( just wrap them two turns around the adjuster to prevent them from dropping into the water, and to make sure they do not get stowed in different places between times you need them. )

With two awls, you progressively can tighten or loosen the standard vernier-type of Mac shroud adjuster plates, without ever loosing tension on the stay or shroud wire. You will not have to risk taking the connection apart completely at any time.

Start wherever the shroud tension is presently, find another set of holes that are ( necessarily ) not lined up exact ( the only holes that are lined up should already have the pin in them, by virtue of that's how they work ) .... find a couple of holes that are not quite lined up, but that the point of an awl can partially go into. Push and twist the awl into the almost lined up hole until it starts to move the adjusters against the existing pin ... then when you have the plates pinned with the awl, remove the ring-ding or whatnot, and take out the short straight pin, and immediately insert the other awl into that hole, but not all the way. Now, by working the tapered awls in and out gradually, and moving them from one set of partial holes to the next, you can progressively tighten or loosen the adjusters to any tension you would need. You will have total control over the tension and adjustment at all times.

It's alot simpler than can be described. And alot more sensible. Just try it, and it beats any other device or tool that requires a total separation of the connection.

[kurz]

I recently read in the original manual.

They describe a very easy method: To tighten the lower scroud, pull at the uper one. Then the under one gehts looser, so you can adapt the pin. And so on.

MacGregor says that with this system you do not have to lower the mast and even it will be possible to overtighten the system.


Sounds easy. But I had to say that the last time I did it with lowering the mast and this was somewhat unpractibable but possible.

[DaveC426913]

OK, this thread has raised several questions for me:

1] How can I make/use that shroud tightener? I don't really get it from the descriptions. Do you just stick the two screws in two holes and then twist it like a wrench to close the gap?

2] My shrouds are fairly slack. How do I know what tension to set them at? (I mean short of buying a tension-meter.)

3] When raising, my furler/forestay comes up an inch short of the deck fitting. It takes several people to apply enough force on the mast to close the gap. This is by far the biggest effort in any mast-raising/lowering effort. Any way to improve it? I'm seriously considering putting a 2" hook next to the fitting to give the hauler something to hook the furler on so he can before going the remaining one inch. I wonder if there's a way I could make use of the spare jib halyard...

[BOAT]

With the mast raising thingy I just winch up the mast and when it's all the way up I turn the crank on the winch about another 2 or three turns and that does it - the forestay pin goes right in. I can't imagine how hard it would be without that winch thingy.

I put the mast up and down three times yesterday alone because I was installing the genoa on the furler for the first time. That's quite a puzzle. But it's on and it works GREAT, very easy to pull in the genoa into a nice neat little taquito roll.

My side stays are really tight from the factory - I cannot deflect them at all. I can tell that they used that "thing"

IE "THING":



..to adjust my side stays because the screws sticking out of the "thing" are a teeny bit bent.

I have raised the mast about ten times now by myself in the driveway. Everything is real easy. The only hassle I find is in rolling the mast back onto the bow. It's a hassle getting the spreaders under the lifelines AND carrying the genoa all furled up on my shoulder as I walk it all back. I have not come up with an easy way to do that yet.

[RobertB]

My side stays are really tight from the factory - I cannot deflect them at all. I can tell that they used that "thing"

IE "THING":



..to adjust my side stays because the screws sticking out of the "thing" are a teeny bit bent.

I have raised the mast about ten times now by myself in the driveway. Everything is real easy. The only hassle I find is in rolling the mast back onto the bow. It's a hassle getting the spreaders under the lifelines AND carrying the genoa all furled up on my shoulder as I walk it all back. I have not come up with an easy way to do that yet.

If you cannot deflect the stays, they are likely too tight - suggest buying/borrowing a Loos gauge and checking.

Best way I found to deal with moving the mast fore and aft when rigging is to replace the bolts holding the spreaders to the mast swivel fitting with clevis/ringding pins. Hold the spreaders to the mast with a bungee cord and pin them in place when raising the mast. This actually saves time over trying to negotiate the lifelines. Check the archive for extensive discussion of this.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

I think the easiest way is to have a shackle on the lifeline connections so you can loosen them and have the spreaders ride over top of them without having to try to get them under.

[RobertB]

I think the easiest way is to have a shackle on the lifeline connections so you can loosen them and have the spreaders ride over top of them without having to try to get them under.

To each is own, both work. I chose to go the cheap way and spend about $3. The advantage to disconnecting the spreaders solves the issue that really bothered me - I was willing to dance with the mast to avoid the lifelines but one spreader would always rub on the deck where they in less than a season wore thru the deck gelcoat/paint.

[BOAT]

Okay, I give. You got me with "gelcoat". Where do I get the pins. What was that archive you talked about? Do you have a link to those pins?

[Tomfoolery]

I think the easiest way is to have a shackle on the lifeline connections so you can loosen them and have the spreaders ride over top of them without having to try to get them under.

To each is own, both work. I chose to go the cheap way and spend about $3. The advantage to disconnecting the spreaders solves the issue that really bothered me - I was willing to dance with the mast to avoid the lifelines but one spreader would always rub on the deck where they in less than a season wore thru the deck gelcoat/paint.

I too remove the spreaders on my , but due to the tension in the upper part of the outer shrouds, I have to pop the caps off the ends of the spreaders. I don't have them screwed in, as that takes even more time if they were. The spreaders won't come out of those deep sockets with the shrouds still attached unless I slide a little slack into them, in which case the spreaders are bending down when the shrouds are tight. I use PTO pins to hold the spreaders in, though there's no chance of them coming out since the sockets are so deep. They're useful for keeping the spreaders from rotating out of position on their own, though.

I may try Johnson levers or pelican hooks on the front of the lifelines at the bow rail this coming season, as all that messing with the shrouds is taking a lot of time, especially when I get the live rigging on the wrong side of the spreaders. There's no chance of my spreaders working against the gel coat, as the mast sits in a nice deep vee in the roller, and it's also pinned both ends against rotation.

I need to seriously cut down on rigging time, and popping the lifelines with pelican hooks is probably the fastest way to gain room to maneuver, coupled with piling the rigging into the cabin and shutting the hatch.

[mika]

Since we're on the topic of shroud tension, I have never seemed to be able to achieve the same tension on both my upper and lower shrouds. I get the one pair perfect, but the other two seem just sightly too loose at the higher setting but the next lower setting (hole) is way too tight. Am I missing something here?

[BOAT]

the mast sits in a nice deep vee in the roller, and it's also pinned both ends against rotation.
.

"Pinned"?? How? That would sure help a lot if the mast did not flop around while I'm walking it back. How is it "Pinned"?

[Tomfoolery]

I had assumed he meant the spreader remained tilted into the gel coat when it's in its travel position, being that it's an .

[BOAT]

Well, yeah, I guess that is the problem (I think that's what he means) I know right now my starboard spreader is resting on the edge of the deck cabin. That aluminum leaves a mark on the gel coat. The reason is because of the mast - it can lean to the left or the right when it's on the rollers.



BUT, it would be nice to "pin" the mast rotation when trailering.