Tunning the Rigging on a 29 Ericson

[rjuhl]

I have a 1979 Ericson 29....just put in the water this year....and I'm a new owner. Looking at the Ericson Owners Manual that came with the boat, the section on tuning the rigging / mast only refers to tightening the upper shrouds to about 2" of play, and the lowers to about 2 - 3 inches of play.

This is highly subjective in my opinion as one can pull just about any tension with enough strengh to get the required results, i.e. there is no reference.

Would anyone kown about how may ft / lbs of tension would be correct. I purchased a rigging tension gauge that measures ft/lbs. My rigging is 7/8" diamater.

Thank you

 

[Loren Beach]

I agree that the factory specs (for an initial tune, presumably) are a bit vague.
You might want to post your question on the rigging forum over at the Brion Toss web site.
Also, I really doubt that your rigging is 7/8 inch -- more likely half that, or less.....

Loren in PDX

 

[rjuhl]

Thank you, your right 7/8" ????????

Its 7/32" diameter.

 

[rssailor]

Tuning the rig

Make sure that the rig is centered. This is very important. I am assuming you have your rig straight now. Go for a sail. If the leaward shrouds have more than an inch of play or seem to be very loose, then tension all of the shrouds one to one and a half turns when you come back to the dock. Go sailing again. Recheck the tension on the leward shrouds. If it is as I described above, then repeat and turn the turnbuckles on the shrouds another one full turn to one and a half full turns. Make sure you do this equally on both sides of the boat. Make sure you sight up the track on the back side of the mast to make sure it is still straight. Make sure the mast is straight. (Can not reinforce how important straight mast is) This process should get you good rig tension. Take measurments after you figure out the tension that works for your boat and use those as repeatable settings. Ryan

 

[rjuhl]

Thanks for the advice......

I found an interesting article on the internet on Selden masts, which I'm told I have. Its called Hints and Advice on rigging and tuning of your selden mast. In this free publication, on page 28, is a chart of stainless 1x19 strand wire ( I have to determine yet if this is what I have) breaking loads. I converted 7/32" to millimeters (about 5.556 mm) and look up the breaking load in lbs., about 5,000 lbs. It recommends tunning the uppers / caps to about 15-20%. So using a tension meter I come up with 750 lbs. Seems a bit high...... but I need to verify, yet, if I have 1x19 strand or something less.....

Randy