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Mast Question

3K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  sailingdog 
#1 ·
Hi there, I am new to sailing and just bought a 27 catalina. I had it shipped to my location so the mast was stepped. I put the mast back up myself with a crane. My question is should I have the mast tuned by someone who knows what they are doing? I have been told different things by people and not sure what to do. One person told me to tighten the turnbuckles until they are taut and this should be fine. Another told me to hire someone who knows what they are doing to "tune it". Any advise would be great. Also, the boat is in southern calif - san pedro and I want to hire someone to give me lessons. Anyone know of any reputable teachers there?.
Thanks!
Louise
 
#2 ·
Louise-

I would definitely hire a professional rigger to tune the mast and rigging for you, and be present when he/she is doing it, and ask them what they are doing and why. Since this boat is new to you, but not new from the sounds of it, they can also do an inspection of the rigging. You'll have to ask someone else about a good resource in your area, as I know little about the So. Cal region, since I am allergic to earthquakes... ;)
 
#3 ·
#4 ·
Louise,
Pick up a Loos guage and do her yourself. It's not rocket science and, with your lessons, will make you aware of the stresses imparted to the rig under varying conditions. And, you'll probably end up knowing more than 50% of your dock mates! Check out the articles and forums on here as suggested.

ps don't be scared, ya gotta really work at it to break something while alongside the dock. That is, unless you're Portugese!(G)
 
#5 ·
Sailaway-

Since this boat is new to her, or so I am led to believe... I think having a rigger go over the rig is probably a wise thing to do. She can also learn about how to inspect the rigging and how to use a Loos Tension gauge properly.

While, I agree it isn't rocket science... the rigging on this boat is essentially an unknown quantity and doing a proper full inspection and tuning of the rig may save some serious problems later on.
 
#6 ·
There isn't a whole lot to it really, but it depends on your level of confidence and how risk averse you are. Certainly the easiest thing to do is to hire someone, and watch and ask questions while they do it.

If you are more of a learn-by-doing person, then grab a book and a gauge and have at it. Do some online research to determine whether or not your mast is supposed to set with some rake or not. I am not sure how many spreaders the C27 has - I am assuming it's not a diamond spreader rig 'cause they're a little more complicated - but basically you want the stays and shrouds to be tight enough to hold the mast in place, but not so tight that they stress the hull unduly. If you get the fore and aft too tight, you will bend your boat, and if you get the side to side uneven, you're going to have a bent mast and it will sail a little strangely...

Depends on how deep your pockets are and how much patience you have...
 
#7 ·
I second SD, find a rigger who does smaller boats, buy a loos gauge before the survey (make sure you get the right one for your gauge rigging), then tell the rigger you want a rigging survey and are also willing to pay the extra couple hours or so to have him/her explain it to you enough so you can keep it in tune and also take it on a short sail to verify that it's in tune.

A good resource for finding a rigger who knows and works on smaller boats in your area would be your local J24 racers. In fact, you should probably crew on some of their boats anyway just to find out what crazy people do when they sail, but that is another topic.
 
#8 ·
Sailormann-

While that's great for a boat that is a known quantity... having at the rig, not knowing if the forestay swages are sound or not is probably not the best idea in the world. A rigging survey and tuning isn't all that expensive to get, and the amount it might save you is well worth it IMHO. It also means that instead of her guessing on how tight the rigging should be, she is starting with it all properly set, and then has a baseline for her own work later on.
 
#9 ·
It might seem a bit challenging and bit intimidating for the first timer.<O:p</O:p
If you have help, someone with knowledge of what they are doing, you might consider doing it yourself. <O:p</O:p
But if you have any reservations at all about your abilities to properly set and inspect your rig, get a professional. Next season you'll be the expert and I'm sure you will be doing the tuning yourself. But the first time........ you may want to solicit an expert's services. <O:p</O:p<O:p</O:p
 
#10 ·
Loos Guage

I personally dont think a Loos guage is much use with boats other than one designs, who do rely on them. The first issue is I doubt Louise is going to find tension settings for a C27 anywhere. My CS36T comes with a three inch thick owners manual, including several pages on rig tuning, but no tension settings that I recall - per the instructions, just sail up wind and tune... The several times a yard set up our mast, no one carried one around.

If you have figured it out and it works for you, that's great, but hands on testing gives you a direct and accurate answer at no cost...maybe I'm getting to be an old fuddy-duddy... but that's a different thread.
 
#11 ·
Mast

I strongly suggest that you take Sailingdog's suggestion to have your rigging inspected. Regardless of how old your boat is, knowing the working components of your boat are in good condition is peace of mind.
Good luck with your new boat , have fun , learn lots , keep us posted on your adventures.

Ken
 
#13 ·
While not intending to dismiss anyone's advice, I am going to try to simplify this whole process.
Cracked swages are really not too difficult to find. Clean the surface of the fitting with a scotch-brite (it helps if you spit on it before scrubbing), then take your magnifying glass and look very carefully over the whole thing. Don't neglect to inspect the clevis and cotter pins/rings.
I've even seen a fairly young marine eye with absolutely no swage cracks split above the clevis pin.
If you have swage cracks they will be visible, if not obvious.
If your rigging is more than ten years old and it has been in central Florida for all that time then you are likely to find a crack or two.
If you find a small crack in your starboard upper and you have reason to believe the rigging is all of the same vintage then you will probably find some more upon closer inspection.
If you only have one week off from work, (and it's next week), and you have been planning this trip to Honeymoon Island for months and you have sense enough to reef early, stay at anchor or motor if you think you are stressing the rig, then you can almost assuredly enjoy a nice vacation and then rerig when convienent. Certainly before you decide to do the thursday night beer can race at the yacht club.
I've seen, and continue to see neglected and poorly designed rigging stand up to amazing abuse.
That said, you never want to push it. If you have time to rerig before your trip, then do it. If you can't, then take it easy, be smart and have a nice trip.

Most rigging, made by a professional will be consistant. Meaning that your starboard upper shroud will be almost exactly the same length as the port upper. (+or- 1/8" to 1/4"). So, if your mast is standing, then adjust your upper shroud turnbuckes exactly the same by opening them to the same point while your mast is being held by the lowers,headstay and backstay (you may even want to open the turnbuckles up completely and make sure the stud and t-bolt, ie top and bottom are started evenly).
Then while tightening, count the turns and take up the exact same count on each side until hand tight. Now ease off the lowers one at a time and set them all hand tight.
Next ease and set to hand tight the backstay and headstay, (if ajustable or accessable depending on furling systems). Now stop and sight up the main sail track like a gunbarrel. You will be able to see any curve (side to side) or bow (Fore and Aft) right away.
If the mast is curving to starboard and bowing forward, then start to adjust it out by tightening the starboard forward lower and backstay. It's all pretty logical if you just remember that you want to keep the top of the mast in the middle of the boat. So move the middle of the mast.
I realize that one must assume that the last rigger made the rigging correctly, the builder put the hole in the deck or the mast step in the middle of the deck and the chainplates are the same length and in the same positions, but what the hell, you have to make some assumptions in life.
It's really pretty easy to see if a rig has been piece-mealed and as for the rest a tape measure will answer most questions if you are really worried.
Anyway, back to the tuning.
Now that you have the mast in column, It's time to go for tentioning. If you have a gauge the use it. Set the shouds at the same tension, somewhere around the middle of the scale.

The most important part is to do the same thing on each side. If you turn the starboard upper three full turns then turn the port upper the same. Port aft lower two turns, Stb aft lower two turns etc.

If you don't have a gauge then just feel them. Don't try to make them sound like a guitar string but just get them tight. Tighten the uppers more than the intermediates and the intermediates more than the lowers. This assumes that the uppers are of an equal or larger diameter that the intermediates and the intermediates are of an equal or larger diameter than the lowers.

I have never seen a mast bowed forward on purpose. Lots of masts bow aft, some even are designed that way. Unless you have a in-mast main furler you probably won't have to worry about a little aft bow.
As far a rake (how much the mast leans aft from vertical), that can also usually be determined by the adjustment of the turnbuckles, Furlers and backstay adjusters.
If you have turnbuckles on both the HS and BS then go for about 50% adjustment on both. Adjust that later depending on weather-helm or lee helm.
After you have successfully tightened all the shrouds and stays to a reasonable degree, the mast is in column side to side and you have the desired amount of bow then go sailing. In a moderate breeze, sailing a close reach your mast should still be in column and there should be no shrouds swinging in the breeze. Meaning that even the looward shrouds should still be under some, if smaller load. If not then adjust the loose shouds, counting the turns, come about and do the same thing on the other side.
Again, the same turns on each side. Keep it in column.

If your headstay deflects too much and you can't sail too well to winward then tighten up the headtstay or backstay depending on weather/lee helm (you might want to ask a knowledgeable friend or racer to go sailing with you for this)
After returning to the dock, eyeball up the mast again. If necessary, make whatever minor adjustments to make sure the mast is in column then install all the cotter rings/pins.
Congratulation,you're done
I have not made it a practice to go sailing on the boats that I tune. Don't have the time. Most riggers don't. As a sailor, it's a skill that one needs to aquire.
Good luck and happy sailing
 
#15 ·
If you've the gumption to install your mast you can tune it. No problem. Riggers are mostly used on large boats with complex rigs. Your boat is definately in the DIY category. Anyway you've gotta learn how anyway as you'll be undoing a stay here and thier for ne reason or annother. You could have a rigger teach you as they go.
So how do you know what to do. There's books on the subject. Brian Toss' book "The Rigger's Apprentince" is the most encyclopedicthat I know of. It'd be best to check it out of a library as you'll only be using a half dozen of its 392 pages at the most. Still it's a good reference. Toss also sells a DVD on how to tune your rigging on his website. If you're in the Seattle area he also runs classes from time to time. Check out his website.
Riggers can do the tension by feel, as do most all of us. But the really sane thing to do is spend about $80 to get a rigging tension gage. Better still borrow one.
Contact the class organization for your boat. They usually have all the tribal knowledge on thingson how to best set up your rigging. There may be someone in the area who'd be glad to help.
 
#16 ·
Walt-

Doubt he much cares, as the OP was posting in 2007.
 
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