Rig Adjustment System

Red Hot Pudding · 12 Mar 2011, 10:05

Can anyone advise on the msot effective system for rig adjustment. I'm fitting a brand new carbon rig into a Crusader, there are no fittings in the boat so I have a blank canvass to work with.
Should I set it up so that the rig can be raked while sailing, i.e. jib halyard and shrouds can be adjusted from either side of the boat, enabling the shroud tension to remain the same. If so, how can the leeward shroud tension be released for downwind?
Or, should the shrouds be independant of each other and even rig tension be managed via calibration marks of some sort?
Some pictures of existing systems would be good.
Help! Thanks very much.:-/

PJD · 12 Mar 2011, 11:05

I've always found that I never adjust the jib tension, if I've had an adjustable one. When changing the rig on my boats I go for a fixed jib halyard - only one position for all conditions as well as no adjustment when sailing. Keep it simple. However, independently adjustable shrouds are high on my list of priorities. Go for as much throw as you can, and combine with swinging spreaders if possible. You'll notice the difference downwind. Just be careful if it's blowing a hooley! (say F5 and above).
Philip, N3499, N2545

JohnMurrell · 12 Mar 2011, 11:51

Having put together 3 or 4 DB boats, I have always gone for a combination of independently adjustable shrouds with their tails led to a common adjustment for both sides. In essesence corse / fine adjustment The jib was always on a pully system which , when the rig was let off down wind, allowed the rig to be stabilised. You will definately benefit from swinging spreaders - my preference is the Proctor, sorry Selden!, limited swing adjusters, not the cheapest option admittedly but work well. There are many other benefits of such a system, not the least being able to rake the rig upwide as the breeze comes on!

I have some drawings somewhere of the system that was put into 3444, 3505 and 3510 and would work well in a Crusader as there is more room. I will try to dig them out and post them in this topic.

Red Hot Pudding · 12 Mar 2011, 12:45

Thank you very much for the responses. I do like the idea o being able to rake the rig when the wind builds. I can't quite visualise the coarse/fine adjustment system so a drawing would be invaluable.
Cheers. Ian

Nick Copsey · 12 Mar 2011, 05:10

I am putting in independant adjustable shroulds with and overall shrould controll as well in my foolish, i would recomend you take a look at Kevin Iles's set up in his foolish, he has the overall shrould controll on a flip flop bock with cleat just behind the CB case next to the jib tension which is also on a flip flop with cleat.
Above deck it has a 2:1 on each shrould, below deck he has another 2:1 but one of the tails goes to the overall shrould tension and the other goes to some more purchase to the individual adjust on the side of the CB case.
Hope this helps.

Kevin · 13 Mar 2011, 10:03

The system Nick mentions in his post is on both the Foolish and DCB. The only difference between the two is that there is an extra purchase on the DCB as (even!) Jane struggles a little at times to get the rig back on at the end of the downwind leg or when gybing the Foolish. Both were done by P&B but it looks simple enough for anyone to copy. When I collected the DCB from P&B Tom mentioned that he had been playing with the rig on my boat and wished he had set his up in the same way!
The Foolish will be at Hamble next weekend, so if anyone wants to take a look or get some photos, they are welcome to do so.
Kevin