Rig Tension

[pcv]

I have a 19ft Challenger Offshore fitted with a Tab roller reefing,
My question is what tension should be set up on the fore stay and back stay's.
And how best to confirm the correct tension without expensive kit.

The mast has only just be put up, and I believe this is the first time in 18 month’s so as the wire straitens, I’m losing the tension


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[yoda]

What you are trying to do is stop the forestay sagging excessivly when sailing however it is all about feel if you don't use a tension guage. Also when sailing the leeward shrouds should not be sloppy and likewise excessive tension is not good either. I suppose little by little is the best way to go, and don't tighten slack shrouds while sailing. Your best bet is to find a book on setting up the rig, this will give you much better advice than I could hope to pass over in a few short lines. The good news is that with a simple rig, experience will quickly tell you what to do.

Yoda

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[bedouin]

It is possible to tension the rigging reasonably accurately using a measuring tape. This is based on the fact that for any diameter of steel wire, a one metre length will expand by 1mm when the wire is under 10% of its breaking tension.

As a rule of thumb, the standing rigging should be tensioned to 15-20% of breaking load. That equates to a elongation of 3-4mm over a two metre length (compared to its length when hand tight).

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[DeeGee]

Brion Toss recommends this method, as well as the piano-tuners ear, and does a video on adjusting your rigging.

Brion/Bedouin's method involves simply putting some tape on the wire rigging, at 2m up from the rigging screw. Then you measure the distance from the tape to the rigging screw as you go. The piano-tuning method relies on twanging the wire rigging until it sounds right (sic) although it must be said that it will not sound right to anyone's ear until it has a fair degree of tension.

Visit BT's site at www.briontoss.com.

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