Tie rods in Ericson 30+

[Frank Langer]

The Ericson 30+ that I bought already had the mast stepped and rigging checked by a local rigger. It has tie rods in the main cabin. The Ericson manual has instructions for tensioning these correctly, but assumes the mast is down, and then tighten slightly once the mast is raised. Having bought the boat with the mast in place, I called the rigger to ask if he had also tensioned the tie rods, and he indicated that they are usually o.k. as is (which I didn't consider too satisfactory a response!).
My question is whether there is any way to determine if the tension is correct with the mast in place and shrouds tuned, etc. The reason this is important to me is that the previous owner mentioned that he liked to overtighten everything, and I noticed slight crazing at the port chain plates--he confirmed that he probably had the shroud tension a bit tight (sailed in windy San Francisco Bay). A surveyor did not think this was a problem, and the sounding did not reveal any delamination at this point. The boat is generally in very good condition, and the previous owner did alot to upgrade the boat.
My current assessment is that the shroud tension is good (lee shrouds just begin to become a bit slack, but not loose, at about 20 degree heel), shroud tension "feels" about right, and I don't notice any deflection in the deck at the chainplates.
Can anyone shed light on a way to confirm that the tie rods are tensioned correctly and doing their job, or offer any other helpful comments on this issue?
Thanks,
Frank.

 

[Seth]

Tie rods

The idea is to keep the deck from trying to raise when loaded up by the shrouds (or, in the case of the mast/deck tie rod, to keep the deck from raising under halyard loads). Once the shrouds are about 85-90% of desired tension, take up on the tie rods JUST ENOUGH so there is no movement (they are "under load"). Then complete the final loading of the shrouds. Sadly, there is no really precise spec for this(or any spec I ever saw).

In simple terms, "hand tight" on the chainplate and mast/deck rods before the rig or halyards are loaded, should work fine-this way they will be under tension before the rigging/halyards can exert any load on the deck..

Hope this makes some sense- it is VERY early here in Spokane (work trip)...

cheers,