[Rhodes22-list] Standing rigging thickness

[John Shulick]

 My side stays have no play left in them at all. I ran out of turnbuckle
adjustment last yr and had only 180 lbs. of tension on the wire. There is no
indication of cracking or failure at any chain-plate location. I tightened
the side stay chain-plates this last season they looked fine. The original
stay probably came with the turnbuckle set half way in (I believe that is
the standard unless you order them special) so my stays must have stretched 
at least 1 "  over a 43 yr period. With the boom up one reef in 150 Genoa
50% reefed in 12 kn winds heeled 12-15* the lee side stays are not loose,
they are dangling in the breeze. 5 yrs of sailing in and I'm comfortable
handling the boat in that set up but these stays just bug me. A small cost
and weight penalty vs a 50% increase in load capacity, piece of mind, and
knowing how hard Rummy has pushed the original. I'll capsize the boat before
the rigging fails. Perhaps a compromise do the fore-stay and side stays in
5/32 and the baby and back-stays in 1/8.  

PS; Graham you are correct to much tension is not good but to loose is not
good either. In keeping the mast up the rigging transfers wind energy to the
hull to drive the boat. It takes energy to stretch a wire, that's energy
that's not driving the boat. 

best
John S



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