[Rhodes22-list] after mast raising

[Slim]

Jay,

Some people get real technical with this and get a "Loos" tensioning gage to
measure and tune the exact amount of shroud tension.  You can find the gage
in a West Marine catalog and you can find the procedure and recommended
parameters in the archives written by Roger Pihlaja.

Or you can just make an educated guess.  This is what I do.  Step one is to
tighten up the double back stays with it's tensioning line.  If you have
IMF, you tighten this with "most of your might" or "pretty damn tight."
Then go to the rest of the shrouds.  Don't use any tools to crank on the
turnbuckles.  Tighten them only by hand.  (I put a small vice grips on the
flattened part of the wire to hold it in place but I turn the turnbuckle by
hand) Tighten them until there's no slack and they're all about the same.
They should all have a low "thung" to them like a low bass string.  Once you
tighten the forward lowers, you might have to readjust the aft lowers or
vice versa.  Keep going around from one to another until they're all about
the same.  Try not to over-tighten one side while the other side is totally
slack.  Rather, take up the slack, but no more, on one side and then go to
the other side.  This helps to keep your mast straight.  It's like
tightening the head bolts on a car engine.  A little at a time on each one.
Be methodical. 

Then go sailing.  Check them as you tack from one side to the other.  Your
lee shrouds will be a little looser than when you're at the dock but they
shouldn't be slack and flopping around.  Tack back and forth and try to get
them equal.  No need to be too anal about it for now.  The difference in
performance of perfectly tuned shrouds and educated guess work is pretty
minimal when you're just getting started with your boat.  You'll get better
at it the more times you rig it up.

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

Slim

On 4/3/07 10:22 PM, "Jay Bulfer" <j.bulfer at jbtek.com> wrote:

> ok, I got the mast up. How do I know how much to tighten the stays?
> Jb
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list