How do you tune your rig?

[Jim Walsh]

What method do you use to tune your rig? For the first time in my sailing life I used a tension gage. It was an eye opener. I found a surprising disparity between the uppers, lowers, and intermediates from side to side. I have always adjusted by "feel", gone sailing a couple times, then made my final adjustments. I discovered a "delta" of 50 to 140 pounds when checking tension from side to side. Much more than I would have expected, though relatively minuscule when the breaking strength of the wire is taken into consideration. My mast has never had any rake or twist issues, or been out of column. Now that I'm aware that my "feel" is out of calibration I shall rely on a tension gage going forward.

[tjr818]

I have always been a "slacker". I grew up with rope rigging and it always worked, so I don't set the wire stays or shrouds too tight. The manual says to adjust to about an 1"-1 1/2" of play, well is that an 1"-1 1/2" of play for my 110 pound daughter or for my 220 pound ex-jock brother? IF I use a loos gauge I set the tension to about 1/2 to 2/3 of the tension recommended by Loos.
Your adjustment my "feel" seemed to get you to Bermuda and back. I'd stick with it.

[sailor]

Curious what a guage costs and from whom? My rig needs tuning as the prior owner put some plastic over the lower turnbuckles and had to release all of them to do it.

[RLW]

http://www.ipyoa.com/media/kunena/attac ... Pierce.doc

You may find this document to be interesting and useful. I tune our Typhoon by feel, but our Island Packet gets the full treatment! I believe it makes a big difference in the boat's performance.

[Jim Walsh]

Curious what a guage costs and from whom? My rig needs tuning as the prior owner put some plastic over the lower turnbuckles and had to release all of them to do it.

I bought a Loos PT-2. It was offered for sale "as new" on another forum, it certainly appears that it had never been used. I paid 80 bucks including shipping. Very simple to use and very accurate.

[jbenagh]

I use a Loos also. I follow the procedure from the "Rigger's Apprentice". First get everything snug and check the mast for straightness. Then increase gradually on the lower, then upper shrouds, followed by the fore and aft stays. I believe it's 10% of breaking strength on the shrouds and 15% on the backstay and bobstay.

Once I tried to follow the dynamic tuning by looking at the shape of the genoa and the sag in the forestay but never really understood exactly what I was looking for. Doing the static tuning was such a huge improvement I have just left it at that step.

I do slack the rigging after hauling. And it is important to do the tensioning in the water since the boat's shape changes a bit. She seems to settle in for even a couple weeks after launching.

Jeff

[tjr818]

I'll stick with Carl on this. My manual says:
"Headstays and backstays should never be taken up so tightly that they will not 'give' an inch or so if you pull on them with moderate force. Upper shrouds should also be tightened equally and have about an inch of 'give' to them. Forward lower shrouds should have one to two inches of 'give', and the aft lowers slightly more. Under no circumstances take up the rigging to bar tight tension. Both the mast and the boat can be severely damaged by excessive tension."

[Ken Cave]

I had a professional tune my stays years ago. And, he told me that it would not have to be tuned again as
they do not stretch. It has been almost fifteen years and it is still tight all around.

If in doubt, have a professional do it.

Ken Cave

[Maine_Buzzard]

Hi Jim,

Has the change resulted in any performance difference? If there's a disparity from one tack to another that was canceled, then the use of the gauge certainly is worth it. For racing, making repeatable tension adjustments certainly is an edge. Given the modulus of 1x19 wire, I wonder how much distance is changed by the equalization of tension. What was the percentage of difference?

And now I need to loosen the rig a bit- Guppy is now asleep for the winter.

[Jim Walsh]

I had a professional tune my stays years ago. And, he told me that it would not have to be tuned again as
they do not stretch. It has been almost fifteen years and it is still tight all around.

If in doubt, have a professional do it.

Ken Cave

My boat is stored on the hard with the mast down every winter.

[moctrams]

This is how I tune my rig:

TUNING A CAPE DORY 30 CUTTER RIG
Start with centering the mast side to side (fore and aft is a mostly fixed setting due to the roller furler covering the forestay turnbuckle allowing the only adjustment to be the back stay turnbuckle).
Take the main halyard, and bring it to the base of a stanchion behind the mast slightly. Hold the main halyard at the base of the mast, and tie off the halyard at the winch to lock it's length in place. Next move the halyard to the opposite side of the boat, and measure to the same point on the stanchion..exactly. Apply the exact same amount of tension to the halyard as you make this measurement. The halyard should be the exact same distance away from the stanchion point of reference, as it was on the first measurement. Take any differences out with the upper port and starb'd. shroud turnbuckles.

Ok, next, you need to set the fore/aft alignment. Pull the main halyard tight, aligned straight down the main sail slide track. The distance of the halyard from the mast should be equal at all points on the halyard. Make the fore and aft adjustments as needed to get this result.

Next is tensioning the rig. I use a Loos tension gage. Anything else is pure guesswork, and is prone to big, possibly damaging errors. I tension the uppers to about mid-scale on the gage, in three steps. Work each side by hand until either turnbuckle is equally hand tight (same number of turns added or subtracted on each side_. Measure the tension and adjust as appropriate, equally on both sides. Next sight up the mast.
Put your eyeball right up close as possible to the track, and sight right up that track.
You will see even the slightest undulation. Adjust the aft lower stays by hand until tight, then add in some tension on the side that needs to be tightened to remove the s-curve. Eyeball the sail track again and verify that the mast is straight.

Now move back to the uppers, and adjust them to the same tension by using the gauge. Next adjust the back stay to that same value. You might want to recheck that the mast is still centered with the halyard trick mentioned earlier. This is a double check and usually there will be no adj. necessary.

Recheck the sail track for that old S-Curve and take it out with the aft lowers, but let off the opposite side that needs tightening first, then tighten the same number of turns on the side needing tensioning. Check the tension with the gauge again, and equalize all shroud pairs (i.e.: make each opposing pair the same tension while maintaining the mast center position, and keeping the tension in the lower to mid range of the Loos Tension Gauge for that size wire.

The uppers should be pretty close to their final values of tension by now, while the lowers are about 1/2 the way there.

Hand tighten the 2 forward lowers equally, then tighten with a wrench and screwdriver equally until all lowers (fore and aft) reach the same values. This should be about 80% of the final settings. Hand tighten the staysail shroud, then use tools to crank it to the value of the aft lowers.

Have a beer, then sight up the mast again to check for the mast being in-column. Check fore and aft column also at this point. If all is well here, then all that is left is to crank in the final numbers. If there is either an S bend or a bending of the mast fore and aft, loosen the lower shroud on the opposite side of the bend a little, and tighten the appropriate side an equal amount. Check the sail
track again.


Whew..by now, you are about 45 minutes into this thing, and almost done. Ok, lastly, equally tighten the uppers to a value that is mid range on the Loos gauge for that wire size
(the gauge has a diagram on the back side that tells you the tension that it is reading). This is for a CD30. You may want to experiment with differing end values
depending on the boat size. Verify that there is no S-bend again. Then tension the lower shrouds in pairs and equally. The aft lowers should be close to the same tension as the staysail stay. The fore and aft lowers should all have the same tension value.

Last time now..verify that the mast is straight and in column in both axis. Put in cotter pins/split rings to lock the turnbuckles in place (they definitely will and do unscrew if you sail without doing this).

Uppers: 9/32" @ 12% = 1,240#
Lowers, Fwd & Aft: 7/32" @12% = 760#
Aft intermediate: 3/16" @ 12% = 560#
Inner Forestay: 3/16" @ 12% = 560#
Backstay: 1/4" @ 13%

[Skeep]

Tossing my two cents into the fountain of knowledge. I borrowed a Loos and realized quickly that my rigging and the Loos simply did not agree. Loos recommended a tension far too tight for common sense. I went back to the CD Ty Manual and did the prescribed method as mentioned by a couple others above maintaining the advice of the Manual to keep the mast straight at all times. Seems to work just fine so I'm not going to get fancier and try to fix it. At this point it begins to work on the mind and I do not know where my rigging came from or who, when or why. So, I'll work with what I've got. Perhaps it becomes a personal thing at this point.

[Jim Walsh]

Hi Jim,

Has the change resulted in any performance difference? If there's a disparity from one tack to another that was canceled, then the use of the gauge certainly is worth it.

I haven't been out for a sail yet so I don't know. Of course when I do get out for a sail I'm going to report that I experienced a dramatic and instantaneous performance improvement just to justify the eighty dollar expenditure.

[Sea Hunt Video]

This is how I tune my rig:

TUNING A CAPE DORY 30 CUTTER RIG
Start with centering the mast side to side (fore and aft is a mostly fixed setting due to the roller furler covering the forestay turnbuckle allowing the only adjustment to be the back stay turnbuckle).
Take the main halyard, and bring it to the base of a stanchion behind the mast slightly. Hold the main halyard at the base of the mast, and tie off the halyard at the winch to lock it's length in place. Next move the halyard to the opposite side of the boat, and measure to the same point on the stanchion..exactly. Apply the exact same amount of tension to the halyard as you make this measurement. The halyard should be the exact same distance away from the stanchion point of reference, as it was on the first measurement. Take any differences out with the upper port and starb'd. shroud turnbuckles.

Ok, next, you need to set the fore/aft alignment. Pull the main halyard tight, aligned straight down the main sail slide track. The distance of the halyard from the mast should be equal at all points on the halyard. Make the fore and aft adjustments as needed to get this result.

Next is tensioning the rig. I use a Loos tension gage. Anything else is pure guesswork, and is prone to big, possibly damaging errors. I tension the uppers to about mid-scale on the gage, in three steps. Work each side by hand until either turnbuckle is equally hand tight (same number of turns added or subtracted on each side_. Measure the tension and adjust as appropriate, equally on both sides. Next sight up the mast.
Put your eyeball right up close as possible to the track, and sight right up that track.
You will see even the slightest undulation. Adjust the aft lower stays by hand until tight, then add in some tension on the side that needs to be tightened to remove the s-curve. Eyeball the sail track again and verify that the mast is straight.

Now move back to the uppers, and adjust them to the same tension by using the gauge. Next adjust the back stay to that same value. You might want to recheck that the mast is still centered with the halyard trick mentioned earlier. This is a double check and usually there will be no adj. necessary.

Recheck the sail track for that old S-Curve and take it out with the aft lowers, but let off the opposite side that needs tightening first, then tighten the same number of turns on the side needing tensioning. Check the tension with the gauge again, and equalize all shroud pairs (i.e.: make each opposing pair the same tension while maintaining the mast center position, and keeping the tension in the lower to mid range of the Loos Tension Gauge for that size wire.

The uppers should be pretty close to their final values of tension by now, while the lowers are about 1/2 the way there.

Hand tighten the 2 forward lowers equally, then tighten with a wrench and screwdriver equally until all lowers (fore and aft) reach the same values. This should be about 80% of the final settings. Hand tighten the staysail shroud, then use tools to crank it to the value of the aft lowers.

Have a beer, then sight up the mast again to check for the mast being in-column. Check fore and aft column also at this point. If all is well here, then all that is left is to crank in the final numbers. If there is either an S bend or a bending of the mast fore and aft, loosen the lower shroud on the opposite side of the bend a little, and tighten the appropriate side an equal amount. Check the sail
track again.


Whew..by now, you are about 45 minutes into this thing, and almost done. Ok, lastly, equally tighten the uppers to a value that is mid range on the Loos gauge for that wire size
(the gauge has a diagram on the back side that tells you the tension that it is reading). This is for a CD30. You may want to experiment with differing end values
depending on the boat size. Verify that there is no S-bend again. Then tension the lower shrouds in pairs and equally. The aft lowers should be close to the same tension as the staysail stay. The fore and aft lowers should all have the same tension value.

Last time now..verify that the mast is straight and in column in both axis. Put in cotter pins/split rings to lock the turnbuckles in place (they definitely will and do unscrew if you sail without doing this).

Uppers: 9/32" @ 12% = 1,240#
Lowers, Fwd & Aft: 7/32" @12% = 760#
Aft intermediate: 3/16" @ 12% = 560#
Inner Forestay: 3/16" @ 12% = 560#
Backstay: 1/4" @ 13%

This is how I tune my rig (simplified version):

I pay the rigger $90.

[Skeep]

Roberto, a great method!