Skip

You're going to be surprised how tight you want to get those stays
(although there will be even more tension when you're sailing).

To my mind, the cost of a good rigger is one of the best "deals" left
in sailing. In a couple of hours they can check and "cruising" tune
your rig - tuning a racing boat is more involved. You'll greatly
decrease the odds of catastrophic rig failure on your first gusty day
and probably have a substantially faster boat upwind.

To get a better understanding (and as guide if you still decide to do
it on your own)
Selden Mast has an excellent piece on rig tuning on their web site

http://www.seldenmast.com/

Go to "Manuals" then scroll way down to the General Information
section. Then download the document "Hints and Advice". They show you
how to use a standard carpenter's ruler and a set of calipers to
measure rig tension.

Carl





Skip Gundlach wrote:
So, we're floating, again, and letting the hull settle into its water
configuration, having been out for more that 2.5 years, before we start
tweaking.

The engine alignment is one such; I think I have that handled.
However, the rig is another matter entirely.

I want to tune the rig before we start sailing, and currently all the
shrouds and intermediates save one seem very loose by hand.
Regardless, they're probably not set correctly.

Once the hull's settled in, I expect that a Loos gauge is the way to go
to see the right setup. I have two questions:

First, is it worth the investment to buy one? I'm not a racer, nor
will I ever be. But I expect that a properly tuned rig will be kinder
to the boat, in any event. Is this something which I'd use frequently
or something better done by paying a rigger (the largest tool is what
our boat needs - it's 180 at list) on the occasions when I thought I
needed it?

Second, how does one determine the proper tension for a given boat and
the given stays/shrouds? Or, is that covered in the manual which comes
with the tool?

TIA

L8R

Skip and Lydia, prepping for sea trials