shroud tension etc.

[aigen]

Aloha friends,

Thanks for all your previous, most helpful replies. My current concern is, it seems the p.o. went to a heavier gauge for standing rigging, probably for insurance before sailing down here from the west coast, not sure... any pros and cons of that? Also, I read somewhere in previous posts that, as long as you're not race-tuning, a good ballpark for loos gauge tension is 10% +/- for shrouds and 12% +/- for stays; close? Straighten me out here. So, my question is, should I keep the same tension %'s on the current oversize stays and shrouds?

Mahalo,

Steve

'Ai Gen'
cd27 #80
Honolulu, HI

[Didereaux]

The 10%-12% rule, which is that recommended by such as Loos and by most experienced riggers is correct...but ONLY for the original sizes. Use the same actual tensions for the larger stays. Example(only an example) say 1/8" calls for 500#, then if you upgrade to 5/16", you would still use the #500 value.

Some are not aware that it is not really the exactitude of the tensions weights so much as it is the exact balance btween two opposing stays...and it is very difficult to get within a 100# by tink and tunk methods.

g'Luk