Rigging Tension?

[BaySailerBill]

Hi Everyone,I need a little help from my nautical knowledge base. I just finished the refit on my 1973 Oday-23 and splashed her last Sunday. All is going great, but I'm not comfortable with the tension on the mast rigging. I've never had any experience stepping a mast and I think the rigging is too tight. Can anybody tell me how to check the tension on the mast rigging wires? I don't have a tool to check it, should I buy one or is there a way to check it without a tool? I would be freatful for any advise that you could give me.Thanks,BILL

 

[JoshGray]

Not an expert, but...

I was told that you should get the shrouds snug while not under sail. Then while on a port tack you should take any slack out of the starboard shrouds and then repeat the process for the port shrouds on a starboard tack.The backstay is a different story altogether as raking the mast gives different performance. I just tighten mine down until it's snug while under sail power.The link goes into a little more depth.

 

[JoshGray]

Not an expert, but...

I was told that you should get the shrouds snug while not under sail. Then while on a port tack you should take any slack out of the starboard shrouds and then repeat the process for the port shrouds on a starboard tack.The backstay is a different story altogether as raking the mast gives different performance. I just tighten mine down until it's snug while under sail power.The link goes into a little more depth.

 

[Dave K.]

Ummmm......

I don't know if it is also applicable to the larger boats, but the manual for my 192 specifically says NOT to do that.

 

[Joe11688]

Stay tension

Bill, Ask around the marina if anyone has a tension gauge. You have to know the thickness of your stays. My upper stays are 1/8" and my lowers are 5/32". I have a small Loos Gauge that I use. The lower stays need to be a little slacker than the upper stays.Joe

 

[JoshGray]

Samsonite... I was way off!

Haha, a quote from one of my favorite movies: Dumb and Dumber. After that last post I should be in the sequel!Thanks for setting me straight Dave and Joe. Don't know if I remembered wrong or just got bad info. Thankfully people who know what they're talking about are here to save n00bs like me from catastrophe! The more you know.In any case, got the info just in time as I splashed my OD22 yesterday and DID NOT tension the rigging in that way.For those of us without access to a gauge (no yards around here... have to go out to the Outer Banks before anyone even knows what a gauge like that is), any "rules of thumb" for rigging tension? I just made sure that all of mine were snug and about the same tension.

 

[Joe11688]

Rigging tension without the gauge

Josh,I did it for years without a gauge. Just try to get them set up so that they are equal, and by that I mean not too tight and not to slack. sight up the mast to see if it's straight. Take your main halyard and use it to judge the straightness of the mast by cleating it off and bringing the shackle over to a predetermined spot on each side of the combing. Measure to that spot on both sides. This should give you a rough idea of the straightness of the mast. Try to get the inner stays a little less tighter than the uppers. Don't worry about screwing up on any advice. I've done that at least twice on this forum. Sometimes we hear things that other's say and figure it's right, and who knows how things get circulated. Maybe the other person heard it from someone else. I'm like you. I learned from the school of hard knocks. Those gauges are very expensive. I usually lend mine out to my friends at the club. Have a great boating season!Joe

 

[Buck 100]

Rigging Tension

Bill. When i put my oday 25 in the water in 2007 i had a hard time with setting the rigging, about two hours. Not wanting to repeat the problem, i decided to double nut the top side of the turn buckle. this prevented the turnbuckle from being tightend to much ( i also have no guage ) and it put me at the tightness i wanted this year.It took me less than twenty minutes.

 

[Joe11688]

That's great Bill!

I'm glad that everything worked out great for you. That's a nice boat and I know that you're going to love it. I went on an overnighter on Monday on the river and the heat was sweltering. Yesterday we sailed to the yacht club dock and I tied it to the dock and hung both polytarps over the boom and my forward hatch. That made it a lot cooler, but it was cooler under the trees next to the club and that's where we spent a lot of time yesterday. I'm thinking seriously of sailing down to Potter's Cove tomorrow for an overnighter and some good Striper fishing right in the cove. It takes hours for me to sail there from Dighton though. You look real happy in that picture, Bill!Joe