O'Day 26 Rig tension setting

[billh]

Good Morning,

I do have a copy of the O'Day 26 manual that is floating about, and after reading it, I have a question about rig tension.

The manual says hand tighten plus on extra turn, Lower hand tight only. Not very accurate, and leaves me to question it. I have a loss gauge, and it says in the instruction, forstay is best to be really tight. In addition the O'Day manual says aft rake is better for racing, downwind anyway on the O'Day.

Anyone have some idea of what setting on the loss gauge I might want to use for forstay as well as outer and inner side stays as a starting point?

Cable size is 5/32"

Thanks
Bill H.

 

[Joe11688]

Good Morning,

I do have a copy of the O'Day 26 manual that is floating about, and after reading it, I have a question about rig tension.

The manual says hand tighten plus on extra turn, Lower hand tight only. Not very accurate, and leaves me to question it. I have a loss gauge, and it says in the instruction, forstay is best to be really tight. In addition the O'Day manual says aft rake is better for racing, downwind anyway on the O'Day.

Anyone have some idea of what setting on the loss gauge I might want to use for forstay as well as outer and inner side stays as a starting point?

Cable size is 5/32"

Thanks
Bill H.

Bill,
I have a Loos guage that I use on my rigging. My lower stays and my fore stay are 5/32". The upper stays on my boat 1/8". I'm setting my uppers stays on my 222 at about #15 and my lowers at about #12. I have a CDI Roller furler on my boat. I think that you're just going to have to find a number on your guage that corresponds to the thickness of your stays and go with that. You probably have a mast head rig whereas I have a fractional rig and can't crank back my backstay without putting a bend in my mast. I have a Johnson Handy-Lock on my backstay which allows me to adjust the stay with ease.
I would just get the rake of the mast where you need to have it, and them pick a happy medium number that corresponds to the thickness of your upper stays. Then get your lower stays a little less than the uppers. This has worked for me for a number of years. Getting the mast straight is key. If your uppers and lowers are of equal tension in relation to one another on all sides, it stands to reason that your mast is going to be straight. The manual really doesn't tell you anything about how to set the tension of your stays. Some of your turnbuckles probably turn easier that others so you really can't go by their instructions.
Just last week I had to re-tension my stays because I had replaced a 1"X 12"X 5" piece of Teak under my mast Tabernacle with a same size piece of Trex. I bedded the Trex with Butyl Tape and just the extra thickness of this caulking caused my stays to tighten up to #30 after I raised my mast. It only took me about 20 minutes to get my stays back down to #15 and 12 again. I'll probably check the tension again in a couple of weeks as the Butyl tape under the mast step might compress and change the stay tension. After that, I probably won't need to touch my turnbuckles again for years.
Joe

 

[srojoetoo]

stay tension settings

Joe

I tried 15# and 10# respectively. Lees were really loose and floppy. I Tried 25 and 20 and get slight floppyness. A bit more comfortable with this.

I am also trying those new pin wraps to secure the turnbuckles. Watching them closely. So far so good.

regards

tom c

Bill,
I have a Loos guage that I use on my rigging. My lower stays and my fore stay are 5/32". The upper stays on my boat 1/8". I'm setting my uppers stays on my 222 at about #15 and my lowers at about #12. I have a CDI Roller furler on my boat. I think that you're just going to have to find a number on your guage that corresponds to the thickness of your stays and go with that. You probably have a mast head rig whereas I have a fractional rig and can't crank back my backstay without putting a bend in my mast. I have a Johnson Handy-Lock on my backstay which allows me to adjust the stay with ease.
I would just get the rake of the mast where you need to have it, and them pick a happy medium number that corresponds to the thickness of your upper stays. Then get your lower stays a little less than the uppers. This has worked for me for a number of years. Getting the mast straight is key. If your uppers and lowers are of equal tension in relation to one another on all sides, it stands to reason that your mast is going to be straight. The manual really doesn't tell you anything about how to set the tension of your stays. Some of your turnbuckles probably turn easier that others so you really can't go by their instructions.
Just last week I had to re-tension my stays because I had replaced a 1"X 12"X 5" piece of Teak under my mast Tabernacle with a same size piece of Trex. I bedded the Trex with Butyl Tape and just the extra thickness of this caulking caused my stays to tighten up to #30 after I raised my mast. It only took me about 20 minutes to get my stays back down to #15 and 12 again. I'll probably check the tension again in a couple of weeks as the Butyl tape under the mast step might compress and change the stay tension. After that, I probably won't need to touch my turnbuckles again for years.
Joe

 

[Shoaldrafter]

26 stay tension

Joe

I tried 15# and 10# respectively. Lees were really loose and floppy. I Tried 25 and 20 and get slight floppyness. A bit more comfortable with this.

I am also trying those new pin wraps to secure the turnbuckles. Watching them closely. So far so good.

regards

tom c

------ // ---------
Guys,

Loos gauges are for racers and professional riggers. They are not in instructions for 26 for several reasons.

The instrutions of hand tighten plus a turn are old traditional and proven instructions. Small boats vary as to correct tenison. Overtighten and you can damage cabin top. Follow instuctions and you should have tight on windward and loose on leeward.

These are proven and safe instuctions for small sailboats. Over engineering is not necessary.

My experience of having experienced guy (racing type sailboater) set tension by Loos on 26 was setting was wrong. Way to tight. Follow manual, the information therein probably came from George O'Day himself.

Ed K

 

[Flyboy69]

Re: 26 stay tension

Thats great info guys! I am just about to raise my mast for the first time on my 23' I just bought the boat and have never done this before....very timely info

 

[Joe11688]

Joe

I tried 15# and 10# respectively. Lees were really loose and floppy. I Tried 25 and 20 and get slight floppyness. A bit more comfortable with this.

I am also trying those new pin wraps to secure the turnbuckles. Watching them closely. So far so good.

regards

tom c

Tom,
Where I just recently re-bedded under my mast tabernacle with Butyl Tape, I think that I'm going to need to readjust my rigging again soon.
Whatever number that you feel comfortable with is the number that you should stick with. Right now, I think that my inner stays could stand a little more tension, so I'll probably tighten them up soon.
I'm not familiar with the pin wraps.
Joe

 

[Joe11688]

------ // ---------
Guys,

Loos gauges are for racers and professional riggers. They are not in instructions for 26 for several reasons.

The instrutions of hand tighten plus a turn are old traditional and proven instructions. Small boats vary as to correct tension. Overtighten and you can damage cabin top. Follow instuctions and you should have tight on windward and loose on leeward.

These are proven and safe instuctions for small sailboats. Over engineering is not necessary.

My experience of having experienced guy (racing type sailboater) set tension by Loos on 26 was setting was wrong. Way to tight. Follow manual, the information therein probably came from George O'Day himself.

Ed K

Ed,
I haven't veered much in my stay settings since I installed the O'Day 25 chainplates on my boat. My friend Wayne sets the tension on his Seaward 22 stays a lot tighter than I do on my O'Day 222 and he uses my Loos Gauge to set them. He has a fractional rig but he also has an extra fore stay from the top of his mast down to a bracket on his bow. The Loos Gauge gives me a good reference for setting my stays. I don't like my stays too tight. There are two types of Loos Gauges. I have the cheaper priced gauge which works well enough for my needs.
Joe

 

[Joe11688]

Re: stay tension settings

Tom,
I just checked out those new Johnson Pin Wraps and think I'll stick with cotter pins. Cotter pins are cheaper, I can see them on the swaged bolts, and once I've adjusted my turnbuckles, I never need to touch them for many years. The Johnson Handy-Lock on my backstay allows me to connect or disconnect my roller furler without having to touch any of my turnbuckles.
Joe

 

[srojoetoo]

So how did you thin the butyl tape?

Tom,
Where I just recently re-bedded under my mast tabernacle with Butyl Tape, I think that I'm going to need to readjust my rigging again soon.
Whatever number that you feel comfortable with is the number that you should stick with. Right now, I think that my inner stays could stand a little more tension, so I'll probably tighten them up soon.
I'm not familiar with the pin wraps.
Joe

 

[Joe11688]

So how did you thin the butyl tape?

I didn't thin the Butyl tape. I just tightened the nuts on the bolts down in the cabin. I may need to retighten them at the end of the season when I take the mast off. I noticed that my inner stays are a little loose, so I'll retighten them anytime soon.