posted July 31, 2002 10:37 PM            

Since I'm not a serious racer, I just go by feel. If you start off with your mast straight, you'll learn to get the shrouds close in tension by feel.

I too have asked this question and today I took the opportunity to check some rig tensions on 2 CL 16's and one Wayfarer.

I used a Loos Tension Guage (Model # 91) and the results were quited varied.

The first boat CL 16: 1/8" wire for shrouds and forestay. Tension on Starboard shroud was 230 lbs and tension on Port Shroud was 210 lbs. The forestay was roughly 60 lbs. In my Opinion this boat is under too much tension and is a high risk for breakage under high loads.

Second Boat: 1/8 " wire. The shrouds and forestay were too loose for the guage to measure. The tension "felt" a lot like mine. In this scenario, the windward shroud will tighten-up considerably leaving the lee shroud very slack. Considering that the CL is overall a light boat I don't think there is too much problem here. My only concern though is that the lee shroud could become a victim of "compression shock" when changing tacks in high wind. (Going from slack to tight in the blink of an eye) I have been told that a way to reduce mast sway is to place wooden shims between the mast and the mast sleeve.

The final boat: 1/8" wire on a Wayfarer and I think the skipper is a keen racer. The first thing to remember here is that the Wayfarer has superior spreaders to the CL 16. The spreaders on a CL 16 sag thus reducing tension on the shrouds. ( See an earlier post to read how I solved this problem. Spreader Measurement for CL 16 dated May 6 / 02) The tension on both shrouds of this boat were set at 160 lbs while the forestay, though snug, was too loose to read on the guage.

Overall I'd say to get your rig as close in tension as is possible without overdoing it. One thing I noticed a few years ago in my boat was that the mast step was getting quite worn down hence I replaced it. My new mast step is thicker than the old one (maybe by 1/16" maybe as much as 1/8") Nonetheless the mast is now mounted a tiny bit higher and as a result the rig is a bit tighter than before.
After surveying all of this I am comfortable with 1)not too tight of stays, 2)a new 3/4" mast mount and 3)mast shims.

I hope you find this useful.

posted August 01, 2002 01:05 AM            

PS This site has been great since it is CL specific. I probably have learned more about the CL 16 since I found this site than I would have learned by trial and error.

The spreaders work great. One note though, I did not butt the spreader right to the spreader bracket. I left a bit of space for swing room.