New Rigging

[m1taylor]

I have had the rigging renewed on an elderly Silhouette I bought last year. As predicted with new rigging it is has slackened off greatly since it was put on (stretching of new cables is normal I believe). As a novice I now have to tighten it all up - but how tight should rigging be? How do I know whether on I am getting the right balance between back and fore stay for instance? To make matters more difficult I have a Plastimo 406S on the forestay, and this make adjusting the forestay a real pig of job!

 

[reeac]

You can, to some extent, check by the sailing performance. The lee shrouds should still have a little tension in them when reaching in a F5. Similarly the relative adjustment of fore and back stays will determine the rake of the mast and hence the amount of weather or lee helm. Suggest that you try tightening the back stay but not the forestay and see if the amount of weather helm remains acceptable.

 

[asj1]

You can buy a rig tension tester "loos" I believe for say £60 from ebay and check it yourself. Once you have used it I am sure you can sell it again on ebay for about 60% of new price, orkeep it again for later.

Andrew