Quad Sidestay tension

[Capnbluering]

I have a 26' Seafarer sloop that has two sidestays aport and two astarboard. the ones to the top of the mast are properly tensioned, but the two that lead to mid-mast are pretty slack. is this normal? or should I tighten these as well? I am simply not familiar with this sort of rigging. any help would be nice.

 

[Bob]

Tension

Hello,I tension my lower shrouds using the LOOS guide based on cable diameter.The lowers hold the mast straight. Make sure uppers and lowers are positioning the mast straight. If in doubt - set the bottom of the cable termination the same distance from the deck on each side. This assumes the shrouds (cables) are the same lenght. If not - sight up the mast and confirm it is straight.The mast should be straight and the leward shrouds slack on a tack.Good luck,Bob

 

[KorculaChris]

Sorry Bob...

The leeward shrouds should NOT "go slack on a tack" as you stated; they should remain tensioned. Set the shrouds to approx. 20% of the stated working load of the diameter wire used. If you buy the LOOS gauge, they have it in the booklet, or you can look up in innumerable reference books and in West Marine online and in the catalog. Brion Toss will help here: http://www.briontoss.com/ and the link below might be useful as well. Just remember that more damage has been done from loose rigging than from over tightened!

 

[TomD23576]

What damage?

Chris-What kind of damage have you seen or heard of from a loose rig? Racing boats change their rig settings all the time. It is not unusual that we set our rig for a light air day and the conditions change on us. So we end up, unfortunately, sailing with a rig looser than we might have wanted for those conditions. While it is not great for performance, I have never seen anything get damaged.

 

[higgs]

My experience

In 30 years of sailing my lower shroud tension has been tight enough not to visually sag on the windward side but yet not taught. I have never lost a mast.