Rig tension gauge

[Kerenza]

It's peanuts compared with the value of your boat, the cost of replacing any rigging, and your annual expenditure........... You know you want one .......... get it on order tonight! http://www.saltyjohn.co.uk/riggingtensiongauge.htm[/QUOTE]

Er I'd need both rod versions plus a wire for the back stay, getting on for 30% of the cost of the standing rigging. I'll stick to the Seldon way as a starting point.
Never understood how the tension measurement works on discontinuous rigging of different sizes or the back stay with a bendy mast which bends the mast before the tension reaches required amount.

 

[steve yates]

Thanks vic and ghost, I am enlightened.

Dave, I saw an advert in this months pbo for a rigging tension gauge for smaller boats, it was around the £40 mark I'm sure, new.

 

[steve yates]

I'm wrong, it was £24.95, the spinlock rig sense.

 

[VicS]

It's peanuts compared with the value of your boat, the cost of replacing any rigging, and your annual expenditure........... You know you want one .......... get it on order tonight! http://www.saltyjohn.co.uk/riggingtensiongauge.htm

Er I'd need both rod versions plus a wire for the back stay, getting on for 30% of the cost of the standing rigging. I'll stick to the Seldon way as a starting point.
Never understood how the tension measurement works on discontinuous rigging of different sizes or the back stay with a bendy mast which bends the mast before the tension reaches required amount.

My reply was directed at the OP. who says he needs a " Loos PT3 (approx. £200)"

 

[Kerenza]

My reply was directed at the OP. who says he needs a " Loos PT3 (approx. £200)"

And my comment was about my needs not the OP. and was a lighthearted precursor to my general question and the inexpensive Selden technique.

My rigging is down at the moment for refurb and it occurs to me that if I cut two cheap steel tape measures and tape one to each cap shroud It will make things quicker for initial retensioning.

Having played with relative frequency tuning of the rig I will also be using a guitar tuner to see if I can correlate anything when rigging from scratch.

 

[KellysEye]

>A good guide of the correct tension ( for a conventional mast head rig) is that when sailed to windward in a F4 the leeward caps should just start to go slack at 20° of heel

If the rigging is slack then when you tack there will be snatch loads on the mast, the mast fitting, the botle screw and the rigging wire none of which are designed for that and in time something will break. We had loose rigging on the port side a charter boat in the BVIs, when we arrived at the base we reported it to the manager and as we were packing to go one of their riggers turned up to tighten it.

 

[vyv_cox]

For many years I have used the method shown in the Rig section of my website for a masthead rig with straight spreaders. Last year before rebedding a chainplate I was lent a Loos gauge to check that I was returning the tension to the same point. I was pleased to note that the tensions I was achieving with my method were absolutely correct as indicated by the gauge.

The difficult one to guess is the forestay/backstay tension but looking up the forestay under full sail in around F4 is a good guide. There will always be some sag but this should not be excessive, somewhere around 2 inches seems to work for me.

 

[30boat]

>A good guide of the correct tension ( for a conventional mast head rig) is that when sailed to windward in a F4 the leeward caps should just start to go slack at 20° of heel

If the rigging is slack then when you tack there will be snatch loads on the mast, the mast fitting, the botle screw and the rigging wire none of which are designed for that and in time something will break. We had loose rigging on the port side a charter boat in the BVIs, when we arrived at the base we reported it to the manager and as we were packing to go one of their riggers turned up to tighten it.

There will always be slack on the leward side wires beyond a certain wind strenth and heel but f that bothers you you can tighten that bottle screw then tack and tighten the other one,Then tack and tighten again. Continue until something gives. Gauges are for wimps.

 

[Ceirwan]

>A good guide of the correct tension ( for a conventional mast head rig) is that when sailed to windward in a F4 the leeward caps should just start to go slack at 20° of heel

If the rigging is slack then when you tack there will be snatch loads on the mast, the mast fitting, the botle screw and the rigging wire none of which are designed for that and in time something will break. We had loose rigging on the port side a charter boat in the BVIs, when we arrived at the base we reported it to the manager and as we were packing to go one of their riggers turned up to tighten it.

It should be just starting to go slack, not flapping around. I.e. its not bar tight, but its not loose. And unless your boat goes through the wind faster than a Laser you won't be getting snatch loads, as the boat comes upright the tension between both sides will equalise.

 

[rob2]

I wasn't really suggestin earlier that you could actually tune the rig with a guitar tuner! Setting up the rig ny eye and by dint of taking out the slack and tightening pairs by equal number of turns should give you the same note between the counterparts though (assuming they're the same length and tension). If it were that effective a method, I'd recommend the Petersen iStrobosoft which will allow a smartphone to identify the pitch to within a tenth of a cent (each cent a 100th of a semitone!). On the boat we set up that way the halyards were at the foot of the mast, so I'd thwang the stays with the winch handle just to check nothing was seriously amiss before hoisting sail. A useful safety check which no-one ever noticed me doing - not even the boat's owner!

Rob.

 

[Orion Jim]

The Loos gauge can be very reassuring, as a practical matter. I sailed from my home port to Bermuda and returned this past summer. The distance was 1,200+km both ways, and crosses the Gulf Stream. I checked my rig tension before leaving both my home port, and before departing St. Georges harbor for the return trip. Being assured that your standing rigging is in good order is very reassuring for a single-hander. As others here have done I purchased at a bargain price on EBay.

 

[Daydream believer]

I have a fractional rigged 31 ft boat
I spent a lot of time experimenting with rig tension & setting the aeries self steering to ensure I got the same steering of the boat ( ie no helmsman to be off one day & on the next or distracted) I found a distinct difference in speed when I changed rig tension. I also noticed the mast pumping when the rig was too slack which can lead to a disaster
Uppers mids & lowers all need to be different tension & there is a big difference. Partly because the lowers are a bigger diameter than the upper sets.
The loos gauge purchase helps me re trim each year & i consider it a good investment ( Xmas present !!!)

 

[MM5AHO]

I made my own tension gauge, and it took perhaps 2 hours to make at home, and was entirely out of bits and pieces in my workshop. It looks remarkably like a Loos!
About as easy to use as that too, and I'm happy with it.

 

[30boat]

I made my own tension gauge, and it took perhaps 2 hours to make at home, and was entirely out of bits and pieces in my workshop. It looks remarkably like a Loos!
About as easy to use as that too, and I'm happy with it.

How did you grade it?