Alan Gomes
Sustaining Partner
In a previous thread I mentioned some gelcoat cracks I was seeing at my port side U-bolts, apparently caused by improper tensioning of the tie rod that takes the load of the upper and forward lower on that side. After confirming that the plywood (not balsa) core was dry and that the gelcoat cracks were superficial only, I overdrilled, filled, and then re-drilled those holes and reinstalled the U-bolts.. Then I set the tie rod to one full turn beyond hand tight, which is what the Ericson documentation calls for.
Now I am tensioning my rig, and I'd like to get some feedback from those of you who are knowledgeable about such things.
The Ericson tuning instructions (see attached) are a bit vague in my opinion. I tried an initial tune following those somewhat seat-of-the-pants guidelines, and I think the result was a rig that was too loose when I took the boat out under sail. So now I'm using a Loos gauge to tension my shrouds as a percentage of the wire's breaking strength. This gives me some actual numbers to work with.
My question is about the uppers and lowers. My rig has a set of inline lowers and aft lowers, besides the uppers.
Right now, I've set my uppers to about 15%, my forward lowers to 11%, and my aft lowers to 8%. Based on the Ericson document, I'm probably tighter than what they have in mind, especially on those aft lowers. According to the Loos gauge documentation, I'm (possibly) a bit too tight on the uppers, correct on the forward lowers, and loose on the aft lowers. And then, per one of Brion Toss's videos on rig tuning, I'm at the low end of what he would think is acceptable for the uppers--he calls for 15-20%--about right for the forward lowers, and loose on the aft lowers.
What do you all think? I've not yet been able to take the boat out since I reset the rigging with the Loos gauge. It will be interesting to see what the leeward shrouds look like when going to weather in a bit of a breeze. Given what Ericson says about the purpose of the aft lowers and how they suggest adjusting them, I'm thinking I might want to loosen those even a bit more, even though I don't have them all that tight if I were going by the other authorities
Thoughts?
Now I am tensioning my rig, and I'd like to get some feedback from those of you who are knowledgeable about such things.
The Ericson tuning instructions (see attached) are a bit vague in my opinion. I tried an initial tune following those somewhat seat-of-the-pants guidelines, and I think the result was a rig that was too loose when I took the boat out under sail. So now I'm using a Loos gauge to tension my shrouds as a percentage of the wire's breaking strength. This gives me some actual numbers to work with.
My question is about the uppers and lowers. My rig has a set of inline lowers and aft lowers, besides the uppers.
Right now, I've set my uppers to about 15%, my forward lowers to 11%, and my aft lowers to 8%. Based on the Ericson document, I'm probably tighter than what they have in mind, especially on those aft lowers. According to the Loos gauge documentation, I'm (possibly) a bit too tight on the uppers, correct on the forward lowers, and loose on the aft lowers. And then, per one of Brion Toss's videos on rig tuning, I'm at the low end of what he would think is acceptable for the uppers--he calls for 15-20%--about right for the forward lowers, and loose on the aft lowers.
What do you all think? I've not yet been able to take the boat out since I reset the rigging with the Loos gauge. It will be interesting to see what the leeward shrouds look like when going to weather in a bit of a breeze. Given what Ericson says about the purpose of the aft lowers and how they suggest adjusting them, I'm thinking I might want to loosen those even a bit more, even though I don't have them all that tight if I were going by the other authorities
Thoughts?