Rigging Tension

[clif]

I have an oday 23 1973,I had to take the mast down for some work. Does anyone know what the rigging tension should be.back stayfron stayshrouds.Thanks clif

 

[Gerry]

Tuning your rigging. First you have to find the breaking strength of your cable. You can do this by looking in the west marine or any other suppliers catalog. Then start tightning the upper and lower shrouds equally keeping the mast straight until you reach 10% of the cable breaking strangth. At this point continue only tightning the upper shroud lines until you reach 15% of your cable breaking strength, remeber to keep the mast straight while tightning. Fore and aft cables should be tightened to about 10%, again adjusting for prefered bend. I got this from several sources and it has worked well for me.

 

[neil]

how do you know

when you've gotten to that 10% or 15%? What is the gauge that you have that tells you that? What is the approximate cost of that Gauge?

 

[Don Evans]

Loos Rig Tension Guage

Available from most chandleries, sail lofts and West amoung others. There are 2 sizes depending on the diameter of the rig wire. Should be about 60 bucks give or take. It is crucial to know your wire guage size and they will give you a tool to determine this. There is also a chart showing average breaking strengths of various size wires. One of the best little investments I have made. Takes all guess work out of the realm.Don