Rigging Tension-how do you do it?

[capnharv2]

This subject has kind of come up previously, but I wanted to ask it a different way.

 

When tightening the standing rigging (just before tying if off permanently), what methods do you use to determine if it's tight enough or too tight? We know (on standing rigging) that you don't want the line to be slack, but not tight enough to bend things out of alignment. Still, that leaves a pretty large range of tensions.

 

So what do you do to determine your standing rigging is tight enough?

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[Jim Lad]

I don't do anything scientific, Harvey - just my own judgement.

 

John

[justsayrow]

Harvey,

"by feel" is easy to type and hard to describe.

 

One thing to keep in mind, would be interested to hear other's experiences, is keep in mind the temp and humidity when you're doing the rigging.  In Houston, we get some wide swings in temp and humidity through the year and I can see spars move.  If you make it tight when its hot and moist (Houston summers bless us with "air you can wear" it's so humid), come winter when it's dry and cool, the lines will really sing and pull things out of alignment.  waxing the line before rigging helps a lot from humidity standpoint, still moves a bit with temperature changes.

 

best teacher is experiment....  take some scrap, buy a dowel and fiddle with tying knots to gauge how tight you can make things.

 

r/

Jerry

[capnharv2]

John,

 

I know it's mainly a judgement call. I was wondering if anybody had any specifics.

 

Jerry,

 

I agree that temperature and humidity make a big difference. The type of line does too (linen, silk, cotton, polyester, nylon). The scale of the model, i.e., spar size and line size also make a difference.

 

I'm thinking of a couple different things here. One is tight enough that it "twangs" like a guitar string. On a small model you probably can't achieve that, but it might make sense on a 1:24 RC sailboat. The other is a tensiometer used in rigging airplane flight control cables. But that is tension in hundreds of pounds. However, it is a way to measure tension.

 

Like I said, I'm curious what you do.

 

Thanks!

 

Harvey

[JerryTodd]

I tune it to middle C

[testazyk]

All good advice here.  My squishy addition is snug but not tight.  If you are pulling the mast it's probably too tight.

[marktiedens]

I agree with all the above plus when I tension shrouds I get them as tight as I dare to without pulling things apart - they always seem to loosen some after tying all the ratline knots.

 

/Mark

[capnharv2]

Jerry,

 

I've been able to get over an octave range on topmast shrouds

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[Don Jane]

What knot can I use to get my Standing Rigging tite ???

[pirozzi]

The knot to use is a sheep shank with a half hitch. You can adjust it up and down to make it as tight or loose as you want and it will not slip. This knot is used to tighten and hold tent stake lines.

 

Vince P.

[Mirabell61]

tensioning Standing rigging, how I do it....

 

I think it depends on the thread material used, the sequence of what rope(s) must go first, staggered what next, how to secure the knots, seizings, work symetricly, check alignment of masts, etc....

 

A proven sequence can be : 

 

begin with the mizzen, and the shrouds.... left right, left right... always check the mast behavior inbetween, very slightly Tension the mast to rake backwards 1-2 degrees. The shrouds are tensioned by the deadeye laces. The ratlines get attached much later. Use a "dead" thread material, eg. Polyester thread. A natural thread based material will be a bit elastic and may turn out with slag afterwards, unless that is specialy wanted. Secure all knots with a drop of CA , because Polyester has the tendency to slip the knots (use toothpick for application, the CA in a lttle plastic cap)

 

put on a preliminary dummy stay at the ship middle axis to Support the mast Forward-wise in this Position. Put on symetricly one or two backstays (mast in this Position)

 

Now put on the actual mizzen stay and Tension in Forward direction, until you get the final and wanted rake.  You can feel how all the before backward orientated shrouds and backstays become tensioned, Always intermeduiate mast alignment check necessary

Result is a wonderful tight Mizzen-rigging and a straight mast.

 

Proceed likewise with the other masts, shrouds, stays and backstays

 

Nils