My 5.7 will kept with the mast stepped all summer. How tight should the shrouds/forestay be? The manual only references "allowing the mast to rotate freely". How much slacl/flopping around of the lee shroud is too much? If I do them up tighter, should they be slacked off after a days sail, or is it OK to leave them like that til October?
Question two, diamond wires. The manual says to be able to press them against the mast, between 12" & 20" up, & if you don't want to adjust them each day, just leave them in the "medium" position. When putting this theory into practice it became apparent that 12" is a variable target. It depends on how hard you press. I thought they were too loose, & did up the turnbuckles a couple of full turns. I could still press them against the mast at 12", but I had to put my arm into it, so I loosened them off a bit. I don't have one of those fancy tension gauges, what do experienced people do? Push just using a thumb, to the point where your thumb is starting to get a good bend, or to the point where you have to get your arm behind the thumb? Does anyone have any cross references that equate to "X" amount of tension. Could I place a block of wood on a scale, then press the wood against the wire, & with the scale reading "X" pounds, that would equate to "X" amount of wire tension?
I am not experienced enough to really appreciate the gains of very fine tuning, but would like to establish a baseline of what light/medium/strong tension feels like. I don't want to put unnecessary strain on the rig, or worse have it come down because things were set to loose.
The manual states that diamond wires are the most critical tuning adjustment, so I would like some knowledge here, as it seems to be a valuable depowering option.
Thanks.
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