What tension should standing rigging be?

You’re aiming for a cap-shroud tension of 20-25% of breaking strain, as with a single-spreader fractional rig, and again the sweep-back of the spreader means that the caps will be slackened as you pull on the backstay.

How tight should mast shrouds be?

They should be tight enough that when you push or pull on them, they don’t want to jiggle around too much. If they feel loose or floppy, you need to tighten them further. Once the cap shrouds are set, the rest of the shrouds simply follow in sequential order with none of them being tighter than the cap shrouds.

How do you set a tension rig?

Typically, for proper tension, the shrouds should be tightened using these guidelines; uppers are the tightest, and then fwd. lowers, then the aft lowers and intermediates should be hand tight plus just a turn or two.

What rig is a mirror dinghy?

Mirror (dinghy)

How tight should my stays be?

If the mast is too far forwards or backwards, it will lead to poor handling and sailing performance will suffer. Back to the original question about tightness of stays. The answer is very simple, the stays need to be tight enough to hold the mast in the proper position.

How do you tension a shroud?

The shrouds can now be tensioned by adjusting each turnbuckle in turn by approximately 3 turns at a time per side. The mast stays in aligment as the tension is increased. The forestay and backstay should be tightened to about the same tension as the upper shrouds, allowing for approximately 1° to 1.5° of aft rake.

How do I stop my turnbuckles from loosening?

If your application will expose the turnbuckle to vibration, it is good practice to lock the end fittings from turning by using lock wire. This will prevent unwanted loosening over time. Your turnbuckle may also be equipped with lock jam nuts to prevent loosening.

How do tension masts stay?

The mast stays in aligment as the tension is increased. The forestay and backstay should be tightened to about the same tension as the upper shrouds, allowing for approximately 1° to 1.5° of aft rake. This rake will improve upwind performance and allow the rig to set in the correct position when the sails are set.

What type of rigging do you use on your boat?

For simplicity we’re assuming the use of 1×19 rigging except where mentioned otherwise. Variations in rig type are almost infinite by the time you take into account deck-stepped and keel-stepped masts, masthead rigs with swept spreaders, jumper struts, fractional rigs with in-line spreaders, and so on.

What size wire do I need to rig a boat?

Most cruising boats have rigging made from 1×19 wire. On sportier boats it might be Dyform or rod, in which case 5% of breaking load is indicated by stretch of 0.95 and 0.7mm respectively. For the purpose or our illustrations we’ll assume 1×19. For accurate measurement the rigging needs to be completely slack.

Why do boats with slack rigging stay standing?

The main reason why under-tensioned rigs on cruising boats stay standing as they do is that manufacturers build in enormous margins. Even so, proper tension means better performance and greater safety. The ‘it doesn’t matter – I’m only cruising’ excuse for slack rigging just doesn’t cut it!

What rig tension gauge do I need for my Boat?

There are currently three makes of rig tension gauge on the UK market designed for yacht rigging: The Loos, which comes in Standard and Professional models, each in three different shroud diameter ranges, from 2.5 to 10mm. The SureCheck, which comes in four sizes, from 2 to 10mm.