Shroud Tension

[Jacktar]

Hello Everybody!Bought a Loos tension gauge and tensioned according to Hunter's recommendations of 34 for the upper shrouds and 15 for the lower. Seems like it should be more and even Hunter calls these minimums. So, what are those of you with the Loos gauge using? Thanks.

 

[Jim]

tension

Your shroud tension should be even. The guage is not a perfect tool, so when sailing close hauled make sure your leeward shrouds are not sloppy. I use one all the time,and I find it gets me in the ballpark. You can feel shroud tension of you try.Sounds like a Zen exercise, but when you become acquainted with your boat it's really simple. Hope this helps. Regards, Jim.

 

[Benny]

Set the mast straight, with your halyard...

measure that you have the same distance from the port chainplates to the starboard one. Identify your shroud wires and look up their rated breaking strength. The upper shrouds are tightened to 15% of that breaking strength and the lowers to 10%. Recheck your mast by sight to make sure is still straight and that the halyard length to both chainplates is the same. Take the boat out on 10-15 knots of wind and check the tension on the leeward side on both tacks.

 

[Tom H]

Loos guage

Benny is right. Put your mast in as vertical a position as is possible first. The Loos guage is great for comparison but using it to set a wide range of wire diameters to a pre- determined percentage of Breaking strength is a streach. How old is the boat? What type of performance do you require? I set up the tension at around 60% of the listed number suggested in the table. On a masthead rig headstay tension is highest followed by the backstay. The uppers are next and then comes the forward lowers. The lowest tension is on the aft lowers. In "normal sailing conditions" the leeward lowers should ease enough so that you can make about a 3" circle with the shroud between your thumb and finger. This is a set up geared toward cruising and also an older boat that may take the same compresion load as a new performance racer but why take the chance.

 

[Doghouse]

Learn from my mistake.

If you are new to setting up your rigging as I am, a visit from my dealer just saved me big money down the road. 1. make sure the mast is centered over the boat. Remove the topping lift after you have secured the boom to something. (bimini?) Set it to the length to one chainplate then measure to the other. Add/Remove turns until it is the same on both sides.Now look up the track for the sail. from the base of the mast and the top should be on the same line.2. Now do the same for the middle of the mast.Now the sail track should be straight bottom to top. I also found that if you look at the top of the mast it will look twisted if not in the correct point.3. now site up the front of the mast, looking for a bow (bow to stern). Adjust the stays with an even amount of turns on both sides to straighten it. At this point the mast is straight. The rest is up to you. That was one heck of a lesson I got, as I had things all out of wack. I cannot wait to try out the new setup.