Rig tension; how tight is too tight?

[Tipster1]

Thanks for suggestion. I wasn't sure if it would fit in boom bail but I'll see if local Westmarine has one on my monthly stop.

[TIM WEBB]

Yup, fits just fine.

Hmmmm. Same situation as yours. I ended up loosening the shroud turnbuckles a lot, and using the top hole in the lever, and then tightening the turnbuckles. My crew was not pleased with the time it took to rig the boat, so maybe I'll put the jib halyard into play. Some backyard practice wouldn't hurt, either...

Alan, I meant to mention that it was my understanding that the purpose of the lever is to be able to "set and forget" the shroud turnbuckles, and have a "one adjustment-fits-all" solution, but in my experience with it, the "travel" of the lever is not great enough to tension the rig enough on it's own. Part of the reason for that might be the mast hinge - need to talk to Rudy about that. When I tighten the turnbuckles enough so that I can *just* get the forestay eye pinned into the top hole by hand, then close the lever, there is not *near* enough overall rig tension. When I tighten them some more, to the point where I can *just* get the forestay eye pinned into the top hole with the help of jib halyard tension, then close the lever, I get pretty good overall rig tension. But at that point, the mast bends aft between hinge and spreaders, forward between spreaders and hounds, then aft from there up. Doubt this is an optimal mast pre-bend, but at least I get leeward shrouds that don't go slack until up to about 10-12 kts of wind. Again, with a one-piece mast, the geometry of it all might be completely different?

All I did in order to be able to use the jib halyard to pre-tension was add an eyebolt to the forward mast support on the trailer. I clip the jib halyard shackle to that before stepping the mast, then when it's up I just cleat off the JH as tight as I can, then attach the forestay to the lever. Still playing around with the "system/setup checklist", and quite honestly haven't had too many chances to try it out since I installed it all ...

[Tipster1]

Finally got to perform my rig tension experiment: I put a tape marker around mast at intersection with cuddy top to see what happened when shrouds sagged. I wanted to determine if, when leeward shroud sags is windward shroud stretching or is hull deforming under downward mast pressure? Observation: Tape did not move when shrouds sagged.
Conclusion: Stays are stretching, hull is sound, stays could be stiffer.

[jdoorly]

Hold on there Alan, we don't ALL think it is necessary to upgrade 3/32" rigging. The designer figured out the loads and added safety factors and selected 3/32" wire cable for the job. To my (limited) knowledge failures of rigging are not due to the wire cable parting but failure of crimps and other hardware.

My (limited) thinking about D&R's 1/8" rigging upgrade has more to do with carrying less inventory than breakage.

Anyone care to document a cable failure and change my mind?

[Tipster1]

For those of you having trouble tensioning fore stay when rigging, run jib halyard to bow plate and use a trucker's knot to tighten it up. 3:1 mech advantage is more than enough to get you or your mate plenty of slack to attach fore stay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywqx_3TLSd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sehiht7AsxU