BYYB Forums

Question -- How tight should the wires be for the mast? I'm able to get it very tight without tool with the tunbuckles... Just wondering if they should have some slack or if they should be tight enough to twang when you pluc k it like a guitar string.

I'm stilling waiting on my mast band and kranze iron to arrive and I wanted to get this process moving so I've come up with a temproary arrangement for the standing rigging so I can move ahead with getting the boat inspected. Hopefully the pretty hardware will be here soon.

I used galvanized fence hardware to make the tangs which will be on my mast band and kranze iron.



It's not nearly as pretty as I would like but it's functional...

Nice

Did you do the drawings and paintings on your flickr site? I like them and wondered what reference material if any was used.

I didn't draw them.

My grandfather drew them. He's been dead for about 55 years or so. He was a sailer during New Bedford Massachusettes last gasps of the whaling industry. Lots of paintings and hundreds of copper plate etchings are floating around New England by him.

I was taking some photos of the paintings which are left at my dad's house.

This one was my favorite when I was a kid..... They're cleaning barnacles off the boat at a shipyard in bristol rhode island.



This one is my favorite now. For some reason it frightened me as a kid.. They're hooked on to a whale and are taking turns tiring the animal out. The scars on their backs are from when it was their turn to wrap the ropes tied to the whale around their backs and hold on while the whale drags the boat around...



I wish I had better photos of all the art that is left.

Enjoy!
David

All the stays should make a solid "twang" when plucked, no slack, but not overly tight either. The shrouds should be equally "twangy" but don't have to be quite as tight. Even sound (tension) is what you're after. A fish scale hooked on the wire, the same distance from the deck on each wire, should get you pretty close.

Quote:A fish scale hooked on the wire, the same distance from the deck on each wire, should get you pretty close.

:?:

Using a fish scale will provide an idea of the amount of tension in your standing rig. Hook it over a wire, say 36" off the deck and pull until you have an inch of deflection (for example), then check the scale. Do the same to the opposite wire (port and starboard lowers, the same, port and starboard cap shrouds, the same, etc.) and they'll be reasonably close. They have actual gauges for this, but who cares, your ears are just as good, if you can identify the same pitch in different wires, when they're "plucked". A fish scale can get you pretty close too.

David
I set my bpat up on the trailer and check to see if the mast is straight to see if the tension is even when it feels like it is tight enough.