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Shroud tension
There are 2 different gauge wire on your catalina between the lower shrouds, uppershrouds, and stays. I have not come across definitive tension, but the mast should be straight when sighted from the side and also from bow and stern. A lot of riggers go by "feel" gained through experience. When at rest, the standing rigging should not be slack, but not bar tight. Someone causually mentioned 1" deflection at shoulder height on the shrouds with moderate pressure. I'd also be interested to know concrete numbers. A call to Catalina Yachts via 800 might be worth a try. Let us know how you make out.
There are 2 different gauge wire on your catalina between the lower shrouds, uppershrouds, and stays. I have not come across definitive tension, but the mast should be straight when sighted from the side and also from bow and stern. A lot of riggers go by "feel" gained through experience. When at rest, the standing rigging should not be slack, but not bar tight. Someone causually mentioned 1" deflection at shoulder height on the shrouds with moderate pressure. I'd also be interested to know concrete numbers. A call to Catalina Yachts via 800 might be worth a try. Let us know how you make out.
Rig tension
Loos recommends about 10% of breaking strength of the wire. The instructions that come with the Loos guage spell it out quite clearly. I believe you can get the instructions off from their web site. http://www.loosnaples.com/Loos2/90s.htm fair winds Dave
Loos recommends about 10% of breaking strength of the wire. The instructions that come with the Loos guage spell it out quite clearly. I believe you can get the instructions off from their web site. http://www.loosnaples.com/Loos2/90s.htm fair winds Dave
Shroud Tension
The instructions on the loos guage are quite easy to understand. For the standard Catalina rig, uppers should be 15-18% of breaking strength, lowers 10-12%. If you have roller furling you can't check forstay tension, so you have to do it from the back, tension the backstay, check rake, correct with forestay tension. The back stay should be about 15% also. If you have a split backstay you will need to do some triginomitry to figure out what each leg should be. Don't take it to full tension all at once. Get the mast even side to side and with the correct amount of rake fore/aft. Take the uppers and backstay to about 8%. check side to side and rake to make sure it is correct. Then take them to about 12% and check again, adjust as necessary to keep mast in column with correct rake. Start dialing in the lowers to about 8%. Make final adjustment to final tensions. With the sail off, it is very easy to ensure the mast is in column by sighting up the sail track. Tie a plumb bob has high up the back side of the mast or use a weight on the main halyard to check rake. If the rigging is getting old, recommend using the lower end of the %. I can find the formulas for tension on a split backstay if needed. It's not as hard as it looks. I went with the "some deflection not bar tight" instructions when I first rigged the boat. When I finally got a Loos guage I was shocked, most of my shrouds were adjusted to less than 5%.
The instructions on the loos guage are quite easy to understand. For the standard Catalina rig, uppers should be 15-18% of breaking strength, lowers 10-12%. If you have roller furling you can't check forstay tension, so you have to do it from the back, tension the backstay, check rake, correct with forestay tension. The back stay should be about 15% also. If you have a split backstay you will need to do some triginomitry to figure out what each leg should be. Don't take it to full tension all at once. Get the mast even side to side and with the correct amount of rake fore/aft. Take the uppers and backstay to about 8%. check side to side and rake to make sure it is correct. Then take them to about 12% and check again, adjust as necessary to keep mast in column with correct rake. Start dialing in the lowers to about 8%. Make final adjustment to final tensions. With the sail off, it is very easy to ensure the mast is in column by sighting up the sail track. Tie a plumb bob has high up the back side of the mast or use a weight on the main halyard to check rake. If the rigging is getting old, recommend using the lower end of the %. I can find the formulas for tension on a split backstay if needed. It's not as hard as it looks. I went with the "some deflection not bar tight" instructions when I first rigged the boat. When I finally got a Loos guage I was shocked, most of my shrouds were adjusted to less than 5%.
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