1983 Macgregor 25 Rigging Questions

[jollyroger47]

After recently purchasing a Macgregor 25 and confidently thinking I will one day sail her from the San Francisco bay to the Caribbean, I have had about every person who has looked at my boat (including the surveyor) comment on how flimsy the rigging looks. I myself commented on how loose the rigging looked when viewing the boat for the first time. My question(s) are is there any general guideline for adjusting the rigging of this vessel? How tight and or loose should the rigging be? If I had to guess I would say I should adjust the rigging as tight as I can do so by hand to where it is equal on all sides, being that this boat was designed as a trailer sailor. This is my best guess. To paint a picture, the rigging is currently as it was set when I first purchased the boat. It can be easily wobbled (for lack of a better word) while standing on deck, and has visible creases in the wiring, hence all of the comments from marina personnel..

If I were to tighten the rigging to what it should be, does anyone know how sturdy the mast and or rigging of Macgregor 25's are? I have been getting told all sorts of things, but do not want to have my boat be at the brunt end of anymore jokes, regardless of how amusing they may be.

Kind responses from those with experience are always appreciated.

Jollyroger47

[Tomfoolery]

The procedure for tuning the rig, as it were, is in the manual, starting on page 2 (pdf page 4). http://www.macgregorsailors.com/manuals ... l_xxxx.pdf

It's a bit thin, but if it's anything like the X, you'll end up with something like 300 lb tension on the upper shrouds, and a bit less on the lowers, with the backstay slack and no sails hoisted. Most folks use their MRS to unpin the forestay and back the mast down a little, make an adjustment, then pull it back up and repin the forestay, then check. It's much easier than trying to walk the adjusters with two scratch awls while under load.

Kinked rigging sounds like it could use some very close inspection, especially the terminations. Use a gloved hand and carefully run it up and down the wire rope, looking for broken wires, which will catch on the glove. But the terminations are usually where you see the problems, so do inspect carefully.

As to being flimsy, it's a small rig - the wire rope is small, and so are the spreader tubes. If a surveyor is used to surveying sailboats, he/she probably doesn't do a lot of small trailer boats, which the 25 is, and the ropes and other bits seem tiny. The vernier adjusters aren't as 'nautical' as turnbuckles, but they're very strong, and will take abuse from raising/lowering the mast and getting hooked on things (especially while raising) without real damage, unlike turnbuckles, which are rather susceptible to damage when subjected to bending loads.

Forestay and backstay are 1/8" 1x19 wire rope (min. breaking strength 1780 lb), and the shrouds (or sidestays) are 5/32" 1x19 rope (min. breaking strength 2800 lb).

[paul I]

I just completed this on my . Read about it here http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... =7&t=26146

I agree with everything Tom said, with the addition of making sure the mast stays relatively straight starboard to port as you adjust.

Also, there are few different numbers tossed around for 1x19 wire rope breaking strength. The Loos instructions list 3300 lbs for 5/32" and 2100 lbs for 1/8" wire, so don't get hung up on a particular number. You might get a better feel for it here: http://loosnaples.com/how-to-use-pt-ser ... ion-gauges

By all means, buy or borrow a Loos gauge.

[jollyroger47]

Well, thank you both, your responses have definitely pointed me in the right direction.

Jollyroger47

[Freedom77]

Rigging questions aside, As far as sailing from SF to anywhere exotic. NO and H>>> NO!!! I have been sailing Venture/Macs for almost 50 years. They are a well made sturdy boat. I have sailed many miles, longest being from Newport Ca. to Ensenada Mexico, approx. 120 miles. That being said think about dismasting, did it (which means no radio) collision with another vessel or other objects, hurricanes, rogue waves and that is just the easy stuff. Get your feet wet, pardon the pun, with the Mac and then think about getting a heavier boat for the dream voyage. I'm jus' sayin'. Fair Winds and Full Sails...Old Salt

[sailboatmike]

Creases as you describe them in 1 x 19 is not a good thing, if your rigging has creases replace it quick smart as its not designed to bend im small radius and the creases will seriously effect the strength of the rigging.

The last thing you want is too get dismasted because one of your shrouds snaps

Unlike the logical thing one would think that if 1 wire of the 19 breaks we have 18 more to do the job, the facts are if one wire breaks the rigging strength is diminished by at least 1/2.

I was out on a boat in VERY light winds and noticed one strand broken, within 1/2 hour there was only 4 or 5 strands left holding up the rigging, a close call and lucky we were only a few hundred meters from a dock