I have a standard masthead rig, the cap shrouds are not seperate from the regular side stays, and my boat has two baby stays on each side. I have my front, back and sidestay tension at 12% of the max rated tension and the baby stays at 10% of the max rated tension. Does anyone have any reccomendations on what tension my standing rigging should be? should I have any mast rake?
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I have a standard masthead rig, the cap shrouds are not seperate from the regular side stays, and my boat has two baby stays on each side. I have my front, back and sidestay tension at 12% of the max rated tension and the baby stays at 10% of the max rated tension. Does anyone have any reccomendations on what tension my standing rigging should be? should I have any mast rake?
Rig tuning H25
The WORST possible thing for any older boat is to 'tune' it TOO tightly. I have seen far too many boats, perfectly adequate when their owners/riggers got to them, go soft in the deck and eventually need tons of work due to over-zealous (and totally unnecessary) shroud tightening. The most important thing is that the rig stands up-- that is, does not sag off to leeward and thus create additional load/unload cycles. Preventing this is the main intention of ANY tensioning of rigging. So get the boat together and then ask yourself: does your headstay droop, on the wind? --does the mainsheet actually adjust mast rake? --does the spar sag off to leeward? --is the spar straight to begin with? --do the leeward shrouds appear to get loose under sail? (A word about this-- my brother Steve and I, both guitar players, used to tune rigs harmonically, that is, comparing notes from corresponding shrouds side-to-side: 'Is this right?' -'No, you're flat; bring it up.' -etc. Funny thing is-- it actually works, because harmonic frequency is only another facet of wire tension. And you can't play jazz if you're out of tune.) For MOST cruising sailors, the main issue is just to have the rig sufficiently taut. Get it as good as you can and start from there. Applying factory-specified torque figures, applicable when the boat was new, to a 25- or 30-year-old boat is looking for trouble. Perhaps I should have started by asking if the chainplates, compression post, and deck structures are all up to any kind of sailing tension at all, for even healthy ones will fail when 'too much' tension is applied out of too much enthusiasm. (We saw it on a Cherubini 44, she of the phenomenally stiff, almost-bulletproof hull-deck-flange joint. The excessive shroud tension bent the flange and rotted the teak deck.) Your boat should have a little bit of imposed mast rake, maybe 1% or 1-1/2%. My dad never drew boats without mast rake, and it helps pointing ability. Also it is a factor of adequate forestay tension. Of course you should the boat looked at by a reputable sailmaker, rigger or surveyor if you have questions about your boat in particular. BTW- the standard 72-82 Hunter 25 has no 'baby stay(s)'. I believe what you refer to are 'lower shrouds'.
The WORST possible thing for any older boat is to 'tune' it TOO tightly. I have seen far too many boats, perfectly adequate when their owners/riggers got to them, go soft in the deck and eventually need tons of work due to over-zealous (and totally unnecessary) shroud tightening. The most important thing is that the rig stands up-- that is, does not sag off to leeward and thus create additional load/unload cycles. Preventing this is the main intention of ANY tensioning of rigging. So get the boat together and then ask yourself: does your headstay droop, on the wind? --does the mainsheet actually adjust mast rake? --does the spar sag off to leeward? --is the spar straight to begin with? --do the leeward shrouds appear to get loose under sail? (A word about this-- my brother Steve and I, both guitar players, used to tune rigs harmonically, that is, comparing notes from corresponding shrouds side-to-side: 'Is this right?' -'No, you're flat; bring it up.' -etc. Funny thing is-- it actually works, because harmonic frequency is only another facet of wire tension. And you can't play jazz if you're out of tune.) For MOST cruising sailors, the main issue is just to have the rig sufficiently taut. Get it as good as you can and start from there. Applying factory-specified torque figures, applicable when the boat was new, to a 25- or 30-year-old boat is looking for trouble. Perhaps I should have started by asking if the chainplates, compression post, and deck structures are all up to any kind of sailing tension at all, for even healthy ones will fail when 'too much' tension is applied out of too much enthusiasm. (We saw it on a Cherubini 44, she of the phenomenally stiff, almost-bulletproof hull-deck-flange joint. The excessive shroud tension bent the flange and rotted the teak deck.) Your boat should have a little bit of imposed mast rake, maybe 1% or 1-1/2%. My dad never drew boats without mast rake, and it helps pointing ability. Also it is a factor of adequate forestay tension. Of course you should the boat looked at by a reputable sailmaker, rigger or surveyor if you have questions about your boat in particular. BTW- the standard 72-82 Hunter 25 has no 'baby stay(s)'. I believe what you refer to are 'lower shrouds'.
Rig tuning H25
The WORST possible thing for any older boat is to 'tune' it TOO tightly. I have seen far too many boats, perfectly adequate when their owners/riggers got to them, go soft in the deck and eventually need tons of work due to over-zealous (and totally unnecessary) shroud tightening. The most important thing is that the rig stands up-- that is, does not sag off to leeward and thus create additional load/unload cycles. Preventing this is the main intention of ANY tensioning of rigging. So get the boat together and then ask yourself: does your headstay droop, on the wind? --does the mainsheet actually adjust mast rake? --does the spar sag off to leeward? --is the spar straight to begin with? --do the leeward shrouds appear to get loose under sail? (A word about this-- my brother Steve and I, both guitar players, used to tune rigs harmonically, that is, comparing notes from corresponding shrouds side-to-side: 'Is this right?' -'No, you're flat; bring it up.' -etc. Funny thing is-- it actually works, because harmonic frequency is only another facet of wire tension. And you can't play jazz if you're out of tune.) For MOST cruising sailors, the main issue is just to have the rig sufficiently taut. Get it as good as you can and start from there. Applying factory-specified torque figures, applicable when the boat was new, to a 25- or 30-year-old boat is looking for trouble. Perhaps I should have started by asking if the chainplates, compression post, and deck structures are all up to any kind of sailing tension at all, for even healthy ones will fail when 'too much' tension is applied out of too much enthusiasm. (We saw it on a Cherubini 44, she of the phenomenally stiff, almost-bulletproof hull-deck-flange joint. The excessive shroud tension bent the flange and rotted the teak deck.) Your boat should have a little bit of imposed mast rake, maybe 1% or 1-1/2%. My dad never drew boats without mast rake, and it helps pointing ability. Also it is a factor of adequate forestay tension. Of course you should the boat looked at by a reputable sailmaker, rigger or surveyor if you have questions about your boat in particular. BTW- the standard 72-82 Hunter 25 has no 'baby stay(s)'. I believe what you refer to are 'lower shrouds'.
The WORST possible thing for any older boat is to 'tune' it TOO tightly. I have seen far too many boats, perfectly adequate when their owners/riggers got to them, go soft in the deck and eventually need tons of work due to over-zealous (and totally unnecessary) shroud tightening. The most important thing is that the rig stands up-- that is, does not sag off to leeward and thus create additional load/unload cycles. Preventing this is the main intention of ANY tensioning of rigging. So get the boat together and then ask yourself: does your headstay droop, on the wind? --does the mainsheet actually adjust mast rake? --does the spar sag off to leeward? --is the spar straight to begin with? --do the leeward shrouds appear to get loose under sail? (A word about this-- my brother Steve and I, both guitar players, used to tune rigs harmonically, that is, comparing notes from corresponding shrouds side-to-side: 'Is this right?' -'No, you're flat; bring it up.' -etc. Funny thing is-- it actually works, because harmonic frequency is only another facet of wire tension. And you can't play jazz if you're out of tune.) For MOST cruising sailors, the main issue is just to have the rig sufficiently taut. Get it as good as you can and start from there. Applying factory-specified torque figures, applicable when the boat was new, to a 25- or 30-year-old boat is looking for trouble. Perhaps I should have started by asking if the chainplates, compression post, and deck structures are all up to any kind of sailing tension at all, for even healthy ones will fail when 'too much' tension is applied out of too much enthusiasm. (We saw it on a Cherubini 44, she of the phenomenally stiff, almost-bulletproof hull-deck-flange joint. The excessive shroud tension bent the flange and rotted the teak deck.) Your boat should have a little bit of imposed mast rake, maybe 1% or 1-1/2%. My dad never drew boats without mast rake, and it helps pointing ability. Also it is a factor of adequate forestay tension. Of course you should the boat looked at by a reputable sailmaker, rigger or surveyor if you have questions about your boat in particular. BTW- the standard 72-82 Hunter 25 has no 'baby stay(s)'. I believe what you refer to are 'lower shrouds'.
- Status