Catalina 27 Aft Lower Shroud Question

[mpickering]

Hi all,

On our new to us Catalina 27, we hired a rigger to replace all the standing rigging and step/tune the mast. Which he did very well. A well-known rigging company in Annapolis did the work.

My concern is the aft lowers. The uppers are rigid tight (deflect only under very firm pressure), the forward lowers are tight but move with some pressure but the afts are reasonably loose. "Loose" as in someone at the dock noticed the wires waving in a 20+ knot breeze dockside.

At shoulder level, I can deflect the lowers around an inch with no significant pressure either side of center. If you grip them with your fingertips, causing them to wiggle takes no effort whatsoever. Essentially, I can swing them in a roughly 2 inch diameter circle at shoulder level.

I called the rigger about this and they informed me it was a normal setup. To quote the rigger: "Uppers tight, forward lowers -2 turns, aft lowers -8 turns as compared to the upper tension". They said the afts would tighten under sail and carrying the shock loading properly. The mast has a visible fore-aft bend in it and is in column.

One item of note here is the lowers are upgraded from original Catalina specs. I am running 3/16" instead of 5/32" and they bolt to upgraded U-bolt chainplates with large backing plates. So I merely may be misreading the perceived tension due to the larger wire size.

I am trusting the professionals here since I don't consider myself knowledgeable or experienced enough to know what is supposed to be right. But from what I've read from others is the aft lowers should be tighter. I'd really hate to get this far with a refitted boat only to lose the mast in a 15-20 knot puff because the aft lowers were too loose.

From what I understand, the aft lowers carry a significant portion of the under sail tension loads so my concern is understandable.

Am I overreacting here to what I don't understand or should I have the rigger come back out to adjust the rig?

Matt

[sailingfool]

The aft lowers are usually looser, that allows some mast bend. The function of the aft lowers is primarly to limit that bend. I cant validate or question his specific method, but concur with his general concept.

[sailingdog]

might send a PM to Knothead, who is a rigger by profession, with your concerns. Or you could post on the Brion Toss website rigging forums.

[mpickering]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

The aft lowers are usually looser, that allows some mast bend. The function of the aft lowers is primarly to limit that bend. I cant validate or question his specific method, but concur with his general concept.

Thanks! That makes me feel better about the rig setup. The rigger recommended we sail with it for the season and then adjust as needed as everything worked in. We'll take it out and see what happens.

Matt

[mitiempo]

The aft lowers should be looser than the forward lowers but when sailing the lee lowers should not be loose enough to wave around. If so they should be tightened evenly, a bit at a time.