Windaveski
Junior Member
I have had an E25+ since 2013. I have tuned the standing rigging several times including in 2017 when I replaced all stays and turnbuckles, but I have never been really satisfied with the setup. I have read several articles about how to set up and tune a fractional rig, some written specifically for the E25+. It all seems similar starting with setting the mast rake with the fore stay then tensioning the upper shrouds to counter the fore stay. This makes sense to me with a "normal" fractional rig which everything I read says have swept back spreaders. It is my assumption that this setup would also have the chain plates for the upper shrouds aft of the mast base. However on the E25+ the spreaders are not swept back much if any and the chain plates are directly out board of the mast base, not aft of it. The result is that the uppers can not put any aftward force on the mast to counteract the forward force created by the fore stay. In fact when I have 6-8 inches of mast rake and tighten the fore stay, the tension in the uppers actually decreases. At the same time the tension in the aft lowers increases so this is where the fore stay tension is counteracted (assuming that the back stay is slack). Of course this causes mast bend issues.
I have looked at pictures of other E25+ rigs that show this same non-rake of the spreaders. Does anyone know why this was done instead of the typical raked spreaders of a fractional rig??? Do other E25+ owners see this same characteristic? Does anybody have recommendations on tuning this rig?
Thanks for any insight you can provide,
Dave
I have looked at pictures of other E25+ rigs that show this same non-rake of the spreaders. Does anyone know why this was done instead of the typical raked spreaders of a fractional rig??? Do other E25+ owners see this same characteristic? Does anybody have recommendations on tuning this rig?
Thanks for any insight you can provide,
Dave