Rig Adjustment Tool

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

Inside the grey cup part of the furler is a turnbuckle, which if the PO has not been careful, can unroll.

Anybody from Canada want to disagree?
Any BC Lions fans out there?

[dlandersson]

I just tried the "2 awl" method today and I lost ground I am two holes down on my outer shroud from where I started.

Now that mystery tool makes sense, attaches to one stay and adjusts the other one.... seems odd to pull on different stay to adjust ...

Apparently nobody thinks much of the "two awls" technique I described.

[Catigale]

Inside the grey cup part of the furler is a turnbuckle, which if the PO has not been careful, can unroll.

Anybody from Canada want to disagree?
Any BC Lions fans out there?

Well struck!!

[dlandersson]

And I had a RAT made up and went at it again. I was able to "get back" one hole.

Using the Loos guage - and thinking about the "bare minimum" loads for the shroud line (200 - 250 lbs. or so), I'm note sure how the original Macgregor chain plates can be adjusted while in the water to the minimum correct tension - at least not without dropping the mast - and then raising it again. It's starting to seem to me that turnbuckles/Sta-masters are the only way to do this. The down side is that the original Macgregor shroud chain plates are better suited for constantly raising and lowing the mast.

I just tried the "2 awl" method today and I lost ground I am two holes down on my outer shroud from where I started.

Now that mystery tool makes sense, attaches to one stay and adjusts the other one.... seems odd to pull on different stay to adjust ...

Apparently nobody thinks much of the "two awls" technique I described.

[RobertB]

Do you moor your boat out on a bouy or do you actually use a dock? Seems access is not really an issue if there is dock in the vicinity.

[dlandersson]

I have a slip - and trust me - the dock is a fixed height and Lake Michigan is a bit lower than it used to be.

Do you moor your boat out on a bouy or do you actually use a dock? Seems access is not really an issue if there is dock in the vicinity.

[mastreb]

You can simply rig the mast raising jin-pole on deck and use it to easily adjust stays even in the water, if you're at a floating dock. I've done it a number of times and in my opinion it's easier in the slip/water than on the trailer.

Just rig the gin-pole and get the mast under tension from it. Un-pin the forestay (can be done from the dock easily), and go back on deck to lower the mast a bit. If your baby stays are in place correctly rocking won't matter, and now your stays will be lose. From the dock, adjust the stays on one side and estimated about (figure 50 lbs. of tension per pin hole). Walk the boat to the opposite side of the slip and adjust the other side stays from the dock.

Once they're adjusted, tension up the gin-pole again and re-pin the forestay. It really is easier than adjusting them on the trailer or using the RAT.

The only thing you have to be careful about is not dropping a ring-ding or clevis pin in the drink. At a fixed dock, how easy it is depends on the water level.

[dlandersson]

Okay, thank you for the advice - and it's may be that you don't know the marina set-up in Michigan City. There's another sailboat on my starboard side tied up to ITS slip. Pic shows powerboat, it's been changed to 22 foot sailboat.

I've checked and I don't have a turnbuckle on my RF Genoa. If I ADD a turnbuckle, isn't that going to make it hard/impossible to tighten up the forestay? I'll be adding 4-6 inches.

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[RobertB]

Seems this is just too difficult. I bet installing turnbuckles will be harder still since you may need to change the length of the shrouds and or swage different fittings on them. Since nothing we suggest will work, why not just pay one of the boat maintenance guys to fix this so you can relax and enjoy sailing?

[mastreb]

Any chance of a temp slip or public dock you could use, maybe at a nearby ramp? I don't know, I just find adjusting way easier to do with the mast raising device and in the water.

[Johnacuda]

Or if you have a trailer, just pop it out for a few minutes to adjust.