Recommendations for the tension of the mast stays

[Chuck_FLA]

So I've almost got my new to me Venture 21 ready to put on the water. I'm having some questions about the mast stays though. Just how tight should they be? My boat has the Channel style tensioners on the side stays and a typical turnbuckle on the backstay. I have to figure something out for the forestay because where was no hardware. I'm looking for another turnbuckle now. I prefer the turnbuckles because of their infinite adjustability.

But my question is - how tight should everything be? Should I be able to pluck everything like a guitar string? Or should there be some slop?

Thank you!

 

[shemandr]

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"The ideal tension on a sailboat's shrouds is typically set at 10-12% of the breaking strength of the cable used for the shrouds, ensuring the leeward shrouds don't slacken when sailing upwind in moderate wind conditions; with upper shrouds generally being tighter than lower shrouds depending on the rig design."
What fun was that?
The percentage of the yield strength is generally agreed safety factor accounting for shock loading from waves and the stresses on the wire (Like an uncontrolled jibe).
The forestay should not tension the rig. It sets the rake of the mast, which has a lot to do with the weather/lee helm, which is really the balance of the boat. Add tension to the forestay with the backstay, swept back spreader upper shrouds or running backstays.
Rake the mast forward to reduce weather helm. Rake it aft to increase weather helm. You can measure the rake using the main halyard as a plumb bob. It's a little tricky to do with the sail on the boom.