Mast - shroud and forestay tension.

Greetings.

This summer I bought my first boat, a Hobie 16, and have some questions about the rigging. I never really paid much attention to a lot of these details when sailing on my friends boat!

Anyways, what is the desired tension on the shrouds and forestay, when the boat is rigged without the sails raised. I've seen in other posts that the forestay shouldn't be terribly tight, and tension will be provided by the jib halyard? We pulled as hard as we could on the forestay when stepping the mast, and barely managed to get the pin in the second slot.

However, the shrouds and the forstay seem a little loose. What is the proper tension on those? I am worried about the mast flopping around and being damaged when under sail. Will they tighten up when the jib is raised, or what? When walking around the boat on the water, if I grab a shroud or trapeze, they are loose enough I can pull the dogbones a good foot and a half to either side.

How can I determine my shrouds and forestay are tensioned properly?

Thanks

The forestay is only used to support the mast when the jib is not raised. When the sails aren't up, there is basically no reason to have any significant tension on the rig (forestay/shrouds). Everything can be loose and there should be no issue pinning the forestay (see the recent post regarding adding a second chainplate to the forestay adjuster).

Once you hoist the jib, the steel wire inside the luff pocket on the jib acts as the forestay and should take all of the load- at this time, the forestay should be totally slack. Opinions on rig tension certainly vary within the racing crowd, but for a recreational sailor, you simply want the rig to be tensioned snug (not so sloppy that the mast bangs around, and not so tight that the mast can't rotate easily). With the jib raised, the rig tension is set entirely by the jib halyard tension.

sm

Also, when on the water sailing, the lee shroud may be somewhat slack. Do not be alarmed by this as it is normal and as SM stated, the forestay is only for supporting the mast before the jib is raised. It does not matter what hole it is in. I just put mine in the top hole. Once the jib is raised, the forestay will be totally slack.

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'88 Nationals Blue
Hobie Alter Signature Model
Sail #11

Hobie Mirage Classic

As for the forestay tension, depending on how much you are raking your mast to the rear, some people add a second chain plate and attach the forestay to it to allow for more mast rake.

Then they attach a bungie to it and the shackle holding the bridles to the lower part of the lower chain plate in order to pull the forestay up and out of the way of the jib so that it won't interfere with tacking.

Make sense?

I have a great picture of one that I'll send you if you give me your email addy.

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'