allweather
Member
Got into a discussion after a round the cans club race about if I am not worried about sailing with such tight shrouds.
Specifically someone wondered if my shroud's are failing(replacements in the trunk, just need to drop the rig and switch) because of the high tension and that it may be dangerous in general. Also mentioned hull stresses and so on.
Point is that I didn't have any facts to quote to refute them and would like to ask you guys about it in general.
Considering the numbers I sail with on the loose gauge are after the guidelines from the class association and have been used by dozens of boats for years and years I am not worried too much. Highest setting is also just shy of 25% breaking strength for the 4mm wires.
We're talking about a H-boat that is using the following shroud tension(wind ranges are lowballed due to lacking hiking crew):
conditions
forestay
main shrouds
lower shrouds
LW lightwind
16
28
20
MW-I medium 3bft+
20
34
24
MW-II medium 2 4bft+
23
36
26
HW-1 highwind 1 5bft+
25
37
31
HW-2 highwind 2 6bft+
27
40
33
Are there any particular concerns I should be aware of? I thought I was well within limits of everything.
In particular since it is my understanding that the majority of tension on the shrouds comes from when the boat is actually heeling over? Supported by my observation that only with HW-2 the leewards shrouds aren't coming lose anymore when knocked flat in a particularly strong and too late reacted to gust.
With which I mean that having the tension itself should not be dangerous at all? I would not let the boat sit like that for weeks if not sailed purely out of habit but can't say I have ever read that it would be a safety risk. Only the opposite in one article that mentioned that leward shrouds going slack causes high dynamic forces that are more of a danger.
Specifically someone wondered if my shroud's are failing(replacements in the trunk, just need to drop the rig and switch) because of the high tension and that it may be dangerous in general. Also mentioned hull stresses and so on.
Point is that I didn't have any facts to quote to refute them and would like to ask you guys about it in general.
Considering the numbers I sail with on the loose gauge are after the guidelines from the class association and have been used by dozens of boats for years and years I am not worried too much. Highest setting is also just shy of 25% breaking strength for the 4mm wires.
We're talking about a H-boat that is using the following shroud tension(wind ranges are lowballed due to lacking hiking crew):
conditions
forestay
main shrouds
lower shrouds
LW lightwind
16
28
20
MW-I medium 3bft+
20
34
24
MW-II medium 2 4bft+
23
36
26
HW-1 highwind 1 5bft+
25
37
31
HW-2 highwind 2 6bft+
27
40
33
Are there any particular concerns I should be aware of? I thought I was well within limits of everything.
In particular since it is my understanding that the majority of tension on the shrouds comes from when the boat is actually heeling over? Supported by my observation that only with HW-2 the leewards shrouds aren't coming lose anymore when knocked flat in a particularly strong and too late reacted to gust.
With which I mean that having the tension itself should not be dangerous at all? I would not let the boat sit like that for weeks if not sailed purely out of habit but can't say I have ever read that it would be a safety risk. Only the opposite in one article that mentioned that leward shrouds going slack causes high dynamic forces that are more of a danger.
