Tension, shrouds and stays

[Roger Fleming]

I wanted to get my shroud and stay tension "right". I went out and purchased a Loos Gage to adjust them. When I checked my Catalina documents it said, " one inch of movement when you push on the upper shroud with your thumb with 50 lbs of preasure." Not much help. Can someone give me a good starting point when setting the tension. I know the "fine tuning" is more art than science. I just need a starting point I can measure. Thanks

 

[Bruce Harkness]

Tension

On my '78 27 I needed two Loos gauges to cover all the wire diameters I had, maybe yours is different. I used the guidlines in the book that came with the gauge(s). You first figure out the breaking strength, then tension them to a % of the breaking strength. I plan on going down to the boat Thursday, can give you the actual readings then.

 

[Joe Luciano]

Rigging

I've dealt with several riggers on shroud and stay tension. Bottom line from all of them is that you don't tune rigging like a Swiss watch. Most use the 1 inch with 50 lb pressure method and the overall feel. The tolerances that riggers go by are much more than the exactness you may be looking for. But, whatever works for you.

 

[Dave]

Tuning

Roger: I have been fighting stay tuning since I purchased my Cat 27 a year or so ago. I race the boat and have had a pointing problem that has plagued me from the outset.....Finally, I have "tuned" the mast so that I can now point and move on to other things. I, too, purchased a "Loos" tension gauge (#90). Using the gauge here is what I came up with: Uppers (3/16")-Set at 740# (27-28 on 3/16 Loos scale) Aft Lowers (5/32")-Set at 500# (18 on 3/16 Loos scale) Forward Lowers (5/32")-Set at 570# (21-22 on 3/16 Loos scale). For the forestay I set it about 21 on the 3/16" scale.....I have a moveable backstay, so I figured that fore and aft doesn't make a lot of difference since the backstay can vary the mast bend to whatever you want. These setting have improved my pointing by 1000%...I can now point with a J30 (not that I can keep up with him, but at least I am now competative.)---Beats going sideways as before. Good luck with your tuning....I would appreciate any feedback on how you end up and what settings you ended up with and how it affected your performance....DAVE