[christian.hess]

to answer your title question yes

way too big and you mess with boat balance, windage and performance, weight aloft can be felt greatly on small boats...

do you have a pic of the 2 wires? side by side

you can also weigh equal lengths if you think weight is an issue

Im not too familiar with those sizes, its easier for me in metric but say going from 1/4 inch to 5/16ths wire the difference in weight and size is HUGE.

On my boat standard is mostly 1/4 inch...some 9/32 but somebody went 5/16ths on some and its massive.

 

[christian.hess]

look up your boat model and or forums...I did for mine

few things to consider

if original your wires were probably 304 stainless its common to slightly upzise when going to 316 wire as recomended by most riggers

its hard to get good 304 wire now, so just bite the bullet

going next size up to me is not bad...2 or 3 and you have to look at pin sizes, tangs, bulkheads, chainplates and all ese standing rigging related

in my case I had mixmatched parts...so in order to use the the oversized wire to an advantage I upsized chainplates, reinforced bulkheads, made new ones, etc...


not needed in most cases but not bad in general to do so...

now simply upsizing wire, substantially on stock turnbuckles, pins plates etc...is of absolute no good, in fact detrimental, weight aloft, stress on other parts as mentioned and developing week links that were not intended as so per the designer

case in point mast tangs...attachment points...turnbuckles etc...the mast itself like mentioned...

anywhoo

 

[christian.hess]

My question still lingers. I went up in size by 1/16" from what was original to the boat. the old nicopress sleeve's have a date stamped on them of 76 and I'm very sure that they are original equipment as the boat sat for many years before I acquired it from the 1st owner. The manufacturer was Luger which was a kit boat and they have since went out of business. I cant find any info on what was recommended by the manufacturer but the boat has been totally reworked by me, including many structural improvements. I sail exclusively on lake Erie and am a fair weather sailor. I will never try to race this boat. I raise the mast and set up all the rigging myself in the spring. There is no measuring the tension. I snug up the turnbuckle's until the slack is out and the mast looks straight. I am a pleasure cruiser that only travels out side of the break wall when the weather is perfect and there is nothing in the forecast. Do I stay with the materials I have or do I scrap it and buy new smaller stuff?

use it

 

[christian.hess]

this is how I have done it on similar boats and now specifically will be doing on my current boat

Mast Systems

cheers