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Bulging deck at shrouds

knewthomas

Junior Member
Last night Rob noticed that the deck at the shrouds is slightly raised on our 1983 E38-200. His first reaction is that this is a sign of a soggy core. After reading some of the posts here, I'm thinking it could be from an overly tight rig? If we re-tune the rig, could this bulge be corrected? Or does this involve adjusting the tension from the cabin?
We are planning a week out sailing at the end of next week. Does this need to be addressed before we go? (ie how critical could this problem be?)
I'm sure Rob will chime in this evening, but I thought I would get the questions out there!
Thanks,
Kathryn
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Guy, regarding the tie rods, the manual for my E30+ indicates that they should be just hand tight with the mast unstepped, and once the rig is tuned, they should be tightened one further full turn. I want to re-check/tune the rig and tie rods on the boat I bought last year.

I am planning to loosen the shrouds so there is almost no tension (just enough to keep the mast from falling), then loosen the tie rod, re-snug the tie rod to hand tight, re-tune the shrouds, and tighten the tie rod the one further turn as per the manual. Does this sound like it should work? Would that also work for Kathryn in the above post?

Thanks,

Frank
 
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rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
The "bulge" is a slight hump in the deck right where the port side cap and intermediate shrouds U-bolts/chainplate passes through the deck. The starboard has it too but much less.

I went to the boat today and checked/noted all the standing rigging tensions with a Loos gauge. I then marked the Navtec bolts with tape and slacked the port side intermediate and cap shrouds. When I went below both the starboard and the port tie rods were loose, the port much more so. They rattled around at the toggle end. I turned the port two and half turns tighter and the starboard about one. It was sort of a guesstimate based on the bulge and the relative looseness of the tie rod. I tightened until they didn't rattle around at the toggle end and then a bit more.

Then I went back on deck and re-tensioned the port side intermediate and cap shrouds to the tape mark while checking with the Loos gauge. Tightening to the tape put the tension back where it was. This surprised me as I was expecting to reach the same tension sooner given that adjusting the tie rods should have effectively shortened them and lengthened the point-to-point distance for the shrouds. Hmmm. I rechecked all the standing rigging and the tensions have not changed, the mast is straight when I sight it. I will have to check the rig under sail to be sure.

The good news is the bulge is all but gone on either side! I do not think that the rig is currently over tensioned. The last time I adjusted it because the mast was bending slightly to leeward when close hauled in 15kts. The leeward cap and intermediates were loose during this as well. Tightening the cap shrouds a turn or two fixed it. The intermediates didn't need adjustment IIRC after the caps were done.


I have a Brion Toss rig tuning DVD on my desk somewhere under the pile of paperwork. I will have to dig that out and watch it. RT
 
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