I've seen spreaders that are set up so that you need to tie the stays into place with stainless steel wire. I've tied the stays into place on a Bristol 24 and a Tanzer 22. The spreaders on my O'Day 222 are Z-Spar and they have plastic tips that clamp down on the stays via machine screws. The best way to really find out about your spreaders is to identify the make of the mast. If it's a Dwyer mast, you may be able to go on their site and find the spreaders for that mast. Hopefully, they will resemble your spreaders. It's not unusual to need to tie in the stays on some spreaders though.
If you have two small holes at the end of each of your spreaders near where the stays make contact, you can use a thin Monel or Stainless steel wire of number 12 or 14 to tie each shroud to the spreaders. Just take an 8 or 10" piece of wire insert it evenly into both holes and diagonally over the stay to hold it in. Insert the wires as many times diagonally over the stay, as the hole diameter will accommodate. Then serve each even end of the wires around the stay in the same fashion that a lineman would tie a conductor to an insulator on a utility pole. Serve each wire tight and close without overlapping any serving. After that, you can use rigging tape to cover it, or bite the bullet and buy those pricey rubber spreader boots. Here's another alternative that you can use for spreader boot covers; Make a pattern out of paper or cardboard of a spreader boot by laying a folded paper over the end of the spreader with the stay in the groove and trace it out with a pencil. Make allowances for the thickness of the spreader so that the boot fits half way around each side of the spreader and butts up close. Cut the folded pattern out with a scissors, and open it up, and trace it on to some leather and cut them out. Punch out the holes for the twine or whatever you want to use to hold them on. I bought my leather at a Native American Pow Wow in my area. I used whipping twine to tie them to my spreaders and stays. I made my spreader boots about two seasons ago, and they're still as good as the day that I installed them. I prefer these boots to using tape because if moisture get in, it goes right out. Check them out.
