Tension
I, like you, am a little confused about the tension on the shrouds and fore stay on my 17' daysailer. I purchased a Loos guage after attending a "sail trim and tuning" class sponsored by my sailing club. The instructor (and several books on the subject) suggested tension of about 10-15 % of the breaking strength of the cable. On my boat, the size of the cable used is about 1200 lbs breaking strength, therefore the suggested tension is 120-180 lbs. Then I read a copy of a DS II manual, and it is suggested that you tighten the cable "hand tight". I have not tried it yet, but I am pretty sure that I cannot "hand tighten" the cable to the 120-180 lb tension. To make a long story short, I think I will try to just use the "hand tight" method, see how that works, then use the loos meter at various percent tension and see if that makes any difference, and just hope that I do no damage to the structure of the hull. I cannot imagine that 120-180 lbs would do any damage to the hull though. Fair winds Gary
