Rigging

[stuartnelson]

Hi There,

After many years of dingy sailing I have just brought my first larger boat, a Kelt 850 1984. I got the mast put up today and have it all set up but I'm weary of taking it out sailing untill I get the tension on the Shrouds/stays right. I have a Loos 2m Tension guage but I'm not sure what tension they should all be at. Any advice or information would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Stuart Nelson

 

[William_H]

You will get different advice to mine here however this is what I think (I have yet to be convinced that shrouds should be set to 10 % or more of the max load rating of the wire. I think it is too much and likely to distort the hull long term.) Some guys in my club actually detension the rig by loosening the forestay after each race) The side stays or cap shrouds are the ones that seem to be the uncertainty. They should be tight enough to get a bit of a low pitched boing when you pluck them perhaps 40kg of strain. The intermediate shrouds are set to a tension similar or a little less. Make sure the mast is straight in the view fronm the bow and stern and adjust the intermediates to get it straight. Now if it a masthead rig you will need to adjust the inner forestay to get the mast straight as viewed from the side. Many boats have a tackle onj this stay so that in strong winds the inner forestay can be tightened and the mast bent middle forward to take camber out of the sail.It should be straight for light winds or if it is not adjustable with some curve if your sail has too much camber (belly). up to 2 inches in the middle for your sized boat. The backstay should be loose or little tension while adjusting the mast bend. It should be possible to pull on the backstay assuming it is adjustable to tighten the forastay and bend the mast for strong winds. If it is only adjustable by turnscrew ie set and forget then haver it a similar tension to the cap shrouds and adjust the inner forstay to give the straightness or curve you think will apply to you kind of sailing.
If it is a masthead rig then the relationship of the inner side stays to the cap shrouds determines if the mast is straight in fore and aft direction. Tighten the inners will pull back the middle while tighten the caps will push the middle forward.( via the aft swept spreaders) This should be done with the backstay quite loose. Now if you pull on the backstay assuming it is adjustable then the mast should bend middle forward nicely to flatten the mainsail in strong winds.
So most racing boats have adjustable (while sailing) backstay and inner forstay if fitted which means that there is no right and wrong for the forstay backstay quiescent tension. You will invariably find that the cap shrouds and inner shrouds will go loose on the leeward side no matter how tight you set them before puting sails on. This is due to deflection of the hull and stretch of the wire. So check you rigging when sailing hard pressed to ensure the mast is straight enough to provide column strength to take the load of the shrouds and forstay. (with just a little forward curve to flatten the mainsail and enough tension on the forstay to minimise curver to leeward of the stay itself. You won't get it straight under load of a a jib.
Good luck and happy sailing will

 

[john_morris_uk]

Sorry, can't remember the rig details of a Kelt 850. What rig is it? Masthead? Fractional? How many stays, shrouds etc?

If you are not racing there are a couple of ways to set it up, but if you describe the rig it will help.

 

[Salty John]

Stuart,
If you have the instructions with your Loos gauge it gives initial tension for each stay and shroud at various wire sizes. If you know the wire size these figures can be used to do your preliminary set up safely. Thereafter you can tweak the tensions as you see fit on the water. If you don't have the instructions PM me with your email address and I'll send you them.

 

[stuartnelson]

Hi John,

Thanks for the quick reply. I didn't realise how little i knew untill i started all this. The rig is a Masthead (the stays go all the way to the head of the mast)
and there is a furling jib. The side stays go from the top of the mast over one set of spreaders and then to the deck. The inside stays go from just below the spreader. There is a single backstay running to a pulley system aft of the cockpit. Thats it i think! I won't be racing so just need it set up for general but safe use.

Thanks again for the help

Stuart

 

[Vara]

A good guide SELDEN MANUAL

Quite a large file!