Stay/shroud tension

[sbcwolff]

How much slack is too much on shrouds? We have upper and lower shrouds and a single spreader point on our mac26s - the lower shrouds that come off where the spreaders attach are at a decent tension (not much wiggle when you pull) but the upper shrouds can wiggle (maybe an inch or two back and forth?) but our turnbuckles are as tight as they can be. Should we try and get our shrouds shortened? (if that is even possible) or should we just get new shrouds?

 

[Ken Cross]

Make sure the mast tabernacle hasn't pressed down into the boat (on our old 26D it was held up by the head wall).
That boat came without turnbuckles but had some adjusters that pinned in place. You don't want loose shrouds as the shock loads can break things.

Ken

 

[shemandr]

If your turnbuckles are maxed out you need to look at the whole rig tune, including forestay length. Something's wrong. When on my Mark 25 the turnbuckles were near maxed, the mast was collapsing the cabin top. On that boat there was no post to support deck from compression. But if there's a compression post look underneath it for rotting wood. Your shrouds were probable the right length at one time. Figure out what changed.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

Uppers wiggle how? spreaders moving or slack in shrouds? If it's the spreaders moving back and forth, it's fine

 

[capta]

We tune so that the mast remains straight in any blow. No movement aloft at all. The easy way to do this is to go sailing, watch the mast and use the leeward turnbuckles to get it straight on that tack. Then you tack and do the same, with a couple of more tacks to get it just right.
Of course, there are those who favor pre-stressed masts, but that's outside my experience.

 

[higgs]

Uppers should not go slack even when in the lee.

 

[rpludwig]

all the above PLUS, invest in a Loos gauge, tune to proper specs and keep an eye on it...

 

[sbcwolff]

My mooring neighbor has a loos gauge, so I'm going to borrow that and check tensions.
I think the problem is we have a non-original mast on our boat. I made drawings of where all the hardware was on the old mast vs new, and the upper shrouds attach 1.5inches lower on the new mast (so I'm guessing that is why my turn buckles are maxed and still not getting proper tension).
So my question now is, how best to fix... do we just drill a new hole in the mast two inches above where top shrouds attach? Or do we take stays down and bring them in to get two inches taken off the turnbuckle threads re-swaged?
The mast is the standard extruded aluminum, so I'm guessing one more fitting drilled into the mast shouldn't affect stability/integrity - but it might just be best to get the shrouds shortened.... thoughts????

 

[capta]

My mooring neighbor has a loos gauge, so I'm going to borrow that and check tensions.
I think the problem is we have a non-original mast on our boat. I made drawings of where all the hardware was on the old mast vs new, and the upper shrouds attach 1.5inches lower on the new mast (so I'm guessing that is why my turn buckles are maxed and still not getting proper tension).
So my question now is, how best to fix... do we just drill a new hole in the mast two inches above where top shrouds attach? Or do we take stays down and bring them in to get two inches taken off the turnbuckle threads re-swaged?
The mast is the standard extruded aluminum, so I'm guessing one more fitting drilled into the mast shouldn't affect stability/integrity - but it might just be best to get the shrouds shortened.... thoughts????

Sorry, but if it was me, I'd get new wire of the right length or cut what you have, and leave the mast alone.

 

[Sailor Sue]

Another option MIGHT be to put a block under the mast step to raise the mast the desired/necessary amount.

 

[LloydB]

I don't know the proper procedure for your shrouds however an offhand guess would be to relax the lower shorter shrouds and then tension the longer upper shrouds to their proper tension then bring the lower shrouds to proper tension. Do you have the suggested (if any) rake set in your mast? If it were me I would probably do that stuff come back and report here before sailing the boat. As you already seem to be doing by the way.