cracked headliner

[KeelHaulin]

Rounding out the ends those cracks is a good idea for now. If these cracks go completely through the deck (not headliner) it would also be a good idea to cover the crack on the topsides (duct tape will do) to keep rain water from leaking trhough into the cabin. Is the deck cored or solid? If it is cored you should do some probing to see if there is any moisture in the core. You can drill small 1/32 holes in the underside (where headliner will conceal) and check for wetness in the core material. If the sawdust beneath the fiberglass comes out wet you will know that water has leaked into the core.

If the damage is only to the headliner I would not be too worried about a structural failure. It is possible that the hull has changed shape (causing the headliner to crack) but you would need a surveyor to look closely at the boat to determine if the hull has distorted. Talk with the pre-purchase surveyor and find out if he will re-inspect this for you. If he missed something major in his original survey it might be something the surveyor should pay to repair (this gets into the realm of insurance claims and/or litigation). I have not done this; I am just mentioning that this sort of thing is possible. Talk with the surveyor first and work with him in a cordile way, but if his analysis of things are not satisfactory to you you will definitely need a second opinion by either a surveyor or expert repair facility.

I would not suspect excessive rig tenson; the loads only get higher when you set sail. If the cabin roof is dishing downward under the load on the mast that is an indication of the rig being too tight. It is possible that an over-tensioned rig can cause long term hull distortion, so you should check with the surveyor on the numbers you are listing here.

IIRC the manual for my boat says that every shroud should have a bit of wiggle when you pull with your hand. When you pull on the shroud you should be able to see the mast deflect in that direction slightly. Under sail the leeward side should get slightly looser but not so loose that they are flapping. You can snug up the leeward side while under sail to further tune it if that happens.

[bestfriend]

Keel-the cracks are only in the headliner. From what I can see from below when I remove the insert panels, the deck is not cracked, but I can't see it all. Its a solid deck, and topsides I cannot access the area because of the line cover. The rigging seems fine. The inconsistency from port to starboard was from the boom being to one side. The apparent loose baby stay was from the toping lift coming undone that I did not notice. The pre-purchase surveyor has been out of town for the holidays, but the broker assures me he will stand by his work and take a look.

[Goodnewsboy]

Re the tension readings:

If those are pre-load tensions, they sound a little on the high side.

Also, why are opposite shroud tensions not equal? Can the boom actually impose such a load/

Questions, questions.

[hellosailor]

"If those are pre-load tensions, they sound a little on the high side."
A little? A thousand pounds sounds damned high to me. Even 700 sounds damned high for most sailboats at rest.

What's the normal working load for 1/4" stainless shrounds? AFAIK it would usually be spec'd at 20% of the rated breaking strength, which seems to run 6-8,000 lbs. for 1/4" stainless cable...So a rating of 1200-1600lbs. on a fully loaded cable would be the maximum working load to put on it. I can't think 1000 lbs. would be the correct "slack" load for that.

I could be totally off on that...but personally I'd drop all those shrouds down to maybe 300-500# until I could find reason to set them any tighter.

[Goodnewsboy]

Maximum static backstay load should not exceed 25% of the breaking strength according to my owners manual. That would be 2000#, also per C&C, for 1/4" dia. 1x19 stainless wire. For my old boat, I would not approach that figure.

The same manual suggests tuning shrouds while underway (after setting the mast perpendicular to the athwartship waterline plane.) by observing the mast when heeled 15 to 20 degrees. The uppers and lowers should hold it straight, and the leeward shrouds should begin to appear slack. The same should be true on opposite tack. It seems like a sensible procedure.

[bestfriend]

You guys are stressin' me out! No pun intended. I fired off an email to the rigger that made the first set of standing rigging for the first CS 34s. Maybe he's got some idea of the tension. Initially he said the same thing, 20% of 8000lbs. I am going to the boat tomorrow to lower the loads and see what happens. There was no wind today, and probably none tomorrow, so a test sail may be out.

[Goodnewsboy]

There is no intent to stress you out. Just trying to rule out excessive rig loads on the deck as a possible cause of the distortion that has cracked your headliner.

[bestfriend]

Oh, I know, thanks. I appreciate the input, it helps a lot. I was just trying to lighten up my situation. Hah! I did it again.

[bestfriend]

Here's what I came up with today. We took her out for a sail, winds 4-8knots, not great but better than nothing even if we didn't get to 15 degrees heel. On a port tack, the lower lee shroud is too loose, it wobbles. On the starboard tack(with less wind), the lower lee shroud was good. So that is consistent with the numbers I came up with when I checked at dock, port lower shroud is looser than starboard. The only bend I saw was on the port tack from the upper shroud to the masthead, bent to starboard. So that would mean that my port side intermediate is too loose. (guessing from what I have read). The wind didn't last too long, and by the time I got to a starboard tack(having too much fun), I don't think there was enough heel to really check the other side. The cap shrouds seemed to stay pretty tight the whole time. Is that too tight? They are set at 15% of breaking point. Seems okay to me. I went and checked some other boats and if anything, they felt tighter than mine. So, not very conclusive, but nothing very obviously wrong either.