C25 Forward Lower Shrouds attached upper chainplate ?

[Leeward Rail]

Is there any conceivable reason someone would attach forward lower shrouds to the same chainplate as the upper shrouds, on Catalina 25 ?

The boat I saw has two holes in the chainplates for the upper shrouds. The new owner had both "upper" and "lower forward" shrouds attached there, with the forward chainplate unused.

He said he was copying what the original owner had done.

 

[Joe]

Sounds fishy too me. I suggest you pursue an actual answer to the question... rather than "that's the way the P.O. did it". The only conceivable answer I can think of is: "something's broken and we didn't want to fix it"

 

[Leeward Rail]

I did wonder if the current forward shrouds will reach the forward chainplates, even if the turnbuckles are loosened off a lot.

I explained to the owner, that the current configuration would allow the middle of the mast to flex aft so it clearly needs to be fixed.

Admittedly it appears the boat has a bunch of issues, so I think the previous owner had no clue in general. The current newbie owner unfortunately simply copied what had been done before.

Fortunately I noticed the issue when I was tuning the rig on our own boat, and tried to borrow a tape measure from him.

With luck he'll be there next time I am at the marina, and I can help him fix it.

I was first thinking it was done to ease lowering the mast, but that doesn't make sense either.