Help with adjusting/rigging a forestay

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Greg

I've been following the recent thread regarding adjustable backstays and have a questions about backstay and forestay tension. I bought my Catalina 27 with the mast down. After a lot of work in the boatyard, the boat was splashed and the mast stepped. Most of the info I could find regarding tuning the mast was concerned mostly with adjusting the shrouds. My C27 has an adjustable backstay but I have no idea how to accurately set the forestay tension. I've seen some info regarding a tension setting using a gauge but the furler extrusion makes this impossible on my boat. Is there a general rule of thumb used for setting forestay tension. The way it sits now, I didn't adjust it from what the previous owner had set but based on the condition of the rest of the boat, I'm not trusting anything the P.O. had set. Thanks! -Greg
 
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Alan

Greg re: headstay tension

Your (and everybody elses) headstay is used to set mast rake, period!! The length of the headstay is set to allow the masthead fore and aft position (rake). There is no way or reason to measure the tension. After the rake is set, the mast can be centered and bent, but there is no more reason to adjust the headstay. The shourds are tensioned (with a tension guage) and so to is the backstay. These adjustments induce tension into the headstay, but the rake remains the same.
 
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Greg

You'll have to excuse me...

...I'm trying to learn. With the boat sitting at the dock there is a slight sag to the forestay. I'm pretty sure I have the shrouds tuned sufficiently according to the (not very scientific) method provided in the Catalina manual, and the mast has a slight bow aft-wards with the masthead a few inches behind the mast step when measured with a plumb bob. When under sail, I can adjust the backstay and tighten up a lot of slop in the forestay but the lower aft shrouds are totally slack. Are mast bow and rake the same thing or is rake considered the aft-ward angle of the mast without the mast being bowed? Thanks for the help!
 
S

Steve O.

tuning

Greg, for a crash course in rig tuning visit Brion Toss' rigging site at www.briontoss.com
 
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