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 Shroud Tension. Urgent help please!
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lohr500

United Kingdom
12 Posts

Posted - 04 Sep 2010 :  11:37:44  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi all,
Picked up our Stratos Keel last week and I am just setting up the rigging on the drive at home as a dry run prior to 1st sail tomorrow.

It's a bit more complicated than our old Drascombe Lugger, but I have the rigging manual and can understand what it is saying!

I do have a question on the shrouds though. I have tried setting the spreader and lower shrouds to the hole settings shown in the manual but even with a lot of tension on the forestay (haven't run up the jib yet) the mast seems to be leaning a long way back and is nearly touching the mast gate. Should the front of the mast be touching the U shaped GRP thwart?

Also the spreader tension is taught, but the lower shrouds are really slack. Is it just trial and error on the hole positions until the mast is mid way between the mast gate and GRP U section with both sets of shrouds having equal tension?

Should add tha the mast base is located on the central bolt of the three bolts.

Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks.

neilgbj

147 Posts

Posted - 05 Sep 2010 :  12:46:22  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hello

Personally I would'nt worry too much about tension on the Stratos and the standard settings work for most wind conditions, if it is very windy I just drop the shrouds one pin hole...spreaders ....if you really want to you can play around but to be honest this is not a performance boat but will perform well on the standard settings...I have had my boat for 4 years and have been out in most conditions and have never taken a rig tension measurement yet !

When you put tension on jib it will bring the mast forward (the forestay wo'nt do that)...not sure what the rake measurement is but I can check mine if you need a rough figure...

Don't worry if the lowers are slack before you are rigged as when you put kicker on it will take that up....when it is windy if the are slack it allows the mast to bend and de power. I think my mast is just off the forward (grp) bulkhead

In essence I would use the standard settings, have the occasional play with rake, but really it is such a well mannered boat once you have settings that work I would just leave it !

Others may have differing views but I don't race my boat just use it for fun/cruising and use other boats to play with on the technical side !

Hope you enjoyed your first sail !

Regards

Neil (270)
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lohr500

United Kingdom
12 Posts

Posted - 05 Sep 2010 :  20:46:51  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks for the info Neil,

Ended up with the main spreader shrouds in the second hole and the lowers in the fourth hole.

Even with as much tension on the jib as I thought sensible the mast was set quite a long way back from the grp bulkhead but both sets of shrouds felt pretty taught to me.

Seemed to sail OK though but as we are relative novices, I really don't know if it was set up correctly or not!

Time to join the local sailing club I think and get some more training. After taking her on the trailer to Windermere today and setting up the mast rigging for just the one day's sailing, I think storing and using the boat at our local Sailing Club will be a better option until we get some hours in.
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neilgbj

147 Posts

Posted - 06 Sep 2010 :  10:51:38  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Fully agree that it is more convenient to sail from a club where there will lots of on hand advice and support as well (which club might that be as there may be other Stratos owners near you ?)...

Next time I am out on the boat I will take some measurements and check the rig tension (mine will not be perfect I am sure !) but it might give you something to work with.....

Cheers

Neil
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Pete1

27 Posts

Posted - 28 Sep 2010 :  16:21:28  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Just a thought... My mast pulls close to the front with tension on the jib. Is your mast foot in the correct place? Maybe it is a notch to far forward?

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lohr500

United Kingdom
12 Posts

Posted - 30 Sep 2010 :  20:10:34  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi pete1,
Thanks for the suggestion. I did wonder about that but I had the mast notch on the centre cross bolt which is where the manual says it should be. Haven't been out since and don't think we will get the opportunity for a while now, so I can't experiment for a while!
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