How tight my rig?

[cameronke]

I have an E-boat and am concerned that I might overstress my hull and rigging. At the moment the shrouds are slightly slack. How should I tension them and how would I know when it is enough? What would be the effect upon sailing performance (pointing etc) if they are too slack?

Regards to all

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[qsiv]

Assuming the hull is sound then it's unlikely that the rigging screws that are fitted will be big enough to over stress either the rig or the hull.

By implication, if the shrouds are slack the backstay and forestay are also likely to be slightly slack. A slack forestay will make it almost impossible to sail to windward in an efficient manner. Slack shrouds leave you (if you have a single spreader rig) with the uncomfortable prospect of the mast bowing to windward - not good for mansail shpae or the mast. Worse, the entire rig will pant as the boat sails over waves, casuing the sials at least to change shape, at worst to actually flap - at the same time the shock loads generated may well be higher than the static loads you would put in by tightening the rig.

In short - set the rig up tighter, but by all means ease the backstay off a touch when you leave the boat, but dont let the mast bow forward (if you have lower shrouds).

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[Peppermint]

These guys at the class association are very helpful http://mysite.freeserve.com/e_boats/index.html

Provided you don't adjust your bottle screws with a long lever you won't damage your hull. The performance improvement is very marked when you set it up right.

If you've any slack in the lee shroud when beating, ie if it's swinging about, you need a bit more tension. Mine wouldn't go upwind at all if the forestay was bowing. So you need a bit of mast bend for upwind work. My mast was fairly whippy so keep looking up the track as you adjust things to keep it straight.

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[Strathglass]

I used to sail with the rigging very tight.
I also found that overtensioning the genoa luff totally killed the performance.

Iain

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[jeanne]

The old rule of thumb is that, when beating to windward in a reasonable breeze, the lee rigging should look as though it is tight, but feel as though it is slack:
'Tight to the eye, but slack to the hand'
But do not do your adjustments at the same time, beating to windward, as you can't tell if you are keeping things balenced port to starboard.

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[cameronke]

Found the turbo enable!

Thanks for you ideas everyone, went out yesterday tightened up the shrouds and enough backstay to make sure the jib foil doesn't sag. The difference is spectacular to say the least!!! Can point about fifteen degrees higher, tacks on a sixpence, lee helm gone, performance improvement awesome!!. Its like a new boat. The full story is replaced my sails last year with furling jib and fully battened main (with lazy jacks and stackpack to improve single handed sail handling) Probably never 'till now set it up right.

Regards

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