Leaving your boat in the water

I will admit i dont like seeing boats left in the water because we have had so many of those boats left in the water and he just died. The reason why they say to bungee the sidestays is because normally when people leave they're boats with their mast up the mast is really sloppy and slips every where. The dungee is just to stop the loose stays and to setle the mast down in windy conditions. Make sure you sail your boat alot and give a good pollish/scrub on the boat when left or it will die.

yes, everyyear i scrub the boat down real good, and when your bungee the shrouds do you bungee them to each other or to the frame?

it doesn't matter really but think about it because if you place them wrong they'll move up or down and wont work with out tention. What i would do is tie the side stays together and pull them down with as much force as possible and then tie a normall peice of rope to the centre to hold it in place. You would just have to think about how hight you want the bungee.

If you leave your boat in the water, any waves will cause the mast to move back and forth which causes the shrouds to slacken and become taught over and over, which causes a lot of stress and strain to the wires. Anything you can do to limit this stress on the shrouds is good, bungee cords is a good place to start.
I would also highly recomend that you secure both halyards off of the mast. The main halyard in particular will slap the mast in time with the movement of the water, and remove its' protective anodizing if left secured to the mast cleat. You can elliminate this by running it to any point off the mast(like to the tramp lacing, or one of your side stays)
Lastly it is a good idea to make sure that you remove any water that makes its way inside the hulls. In the past I have used a sponge through the ports I installed in the bows of the boat. If you don't have ports, you should periodically beach the cat and remove the plugs to make sure there is no water, and or drain and dry if there is.
Hope this helps a little, andrew

Where would you attach your bungee cords?

you can attach the bungee cords practly any where. You could tie it from your dolphin striker to your bridles or even side stay to side stay. or even tie them all down. The idea of this is not to strech your wires and mess the boat up.

Bungee cords are an interesting idea. You could also take your jib sheets, attach them to the jib tack and use the jib cleat to pull the forestay in and pull the shrouds tight.

you so could but it doesn't matter how tight you get them your always going to have some movement and then your ropes will wear away. The whole idea of this is not to reck your boat but stoping the wearing away of materials. Bungee works in a way where it will allow movement but only enough to things dont strech and it relieves the stress on the wires and mast and all other parts.