Self-Aligning ...
One of my boats (a 24' Shark) uses Wire to keep the upper shroud from falling out of the spreader tip, and the shroud also includes crimp stop (not sure what to call it), just above the spreader as a safety. The wire seizing would appear to keep the shroud in place, but in fact once the spreader is attached to the fixed spreader base on the mast, and the mast stepped and the shrouds tensioned, then spreader will find it's natural location (as defined by the spreader bases on the mast (which define both the sweep angle, and the bisecting angle). The regular process of tacking results in the should changing from tight to loose, and a firm, but not secure, attachment of the shround to the spreader tip will allow an automatic alignment of the shroud at the spreader tip. My Hunter, with Isomat spars also has welded spreader bases, and thus the spreaders are also quite rigidly mounted. The design of the spreader tips from the manufacturer in fact don't really allow the shrouds to be firmly fixed to the spreader. Once again, the shrouds are effectively loose within the spreader tips (relative to the rig tension) and ends up self aligning. Obviously, there are many different spreader arrangments, and many will not work this way. Shrounds that are secured to the spreader tips would be safer no doubt, but shrouds that can move within the tip on a firmly fixed spread will usually achieve their correct position naturally. Chris
One of my boats (a 24' Shark) uses Wire to keep the upper shroud from falling out of the spreader tip, and the shroud also includes crimp stop (not sure what to call it), just above the spreader as a safety. The wire seizing would appear to keep the shroud in place, but in fact once the spreader is attached to the fixed spreader base on the mast, and the mast stepped and the shrouds tensioned, then spreader will find it's natural location (as defined by the spreader bases on the mast (which define both the sweep angle, and the bisecting angle). The regular process of tacking results in the should changing from tight to loose, and a firm, but not secure, attachment of the shround to the spreader tip will allow an automatic alignment of the shroud at the spreader tip. My Hunter, with Isomat spars also has welded spreader bases, and thus the spreaders are also quite rigidly mounted. The design of the spreader tips from the manufacturer in fact don't really allow the shrouds to be firmly fixed to the spreader. Once again, the shrouds are effectively loose within the spreader tips (relative to the rig tension) and ends up self aligning. Obviously, there are many different spreader arrangments, and many will not work this way. Shrounds that are secured to the spreader tips would be safer no doubt, but shrouds that can move within the tip on a firmly fixed spread will usually achieve their correct position naturally. Chris