How to shorten up forestay and Mainstay cables?

[bowman316]

I have turnbuckles on all of my stays going to the mast. But the turnbuckle is already as tight/short as it will get, and the cables are a little too loose. So as it is, I can't tighten the forestay or mainstay anymore.

I assume I would have to cut the cable, and wind out the turnbuckle, then reattach the now shorter cable to the turnbuckle. But how do i do that? Is there an easy way to put a fitting on the end of a steel cable?
Is it kinda like crimping a fitting onto an electrical wire, like you would to for a car battery terminal?

Or is it so hard, I should just be happy with how tight it is now?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: How to shorten up forestay and Mainstay cables?

If the turnbuckles are fairly long, you could look into getting shorter ones to take up the slack.

Otherwise, you would need to shorten the stays as you mentioned. They should be crimped to form the loop at the end . . . you would need to remove the existing crimps and re-crimp after taking up an inch or 2 of slack, depending on how much play you have in the turnbuckles.

You will need to get yourself a crimping tool and the appropriate size crimps, etc.

If you sail with the shrouds/stays loose, you could snap the mast in a higher wind condition.

 

[Don S]

Re: How to shorten up forestay and Mainstay cables?

I would be wondering why they got too short. Is it new rigging? Is your mast deck stepped? Maybe the deck is caving in from lack of support underneath, or the supports are suffering from rot.

 

[bowman316]

Re: How to shorten up forestay and Mainstay cables?

the boat is a 1970. Do steel cables stretch out over time?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: How to shorten up forestay and Mainstay cables?

the boat is a 1970. Do steel cables stretch out over time?

I noticed a little bit of stretch on my Catalina 22 over the years, but it was not something that rendered the turnbuckles useless. So, to Don's point, you might have a structural issue at the mast step and the supporting post below.

If that proves to be solid, then you could possibly put a block of wood under the mast step plate/pivot, which would make the mast an inch or so higher, and the turnbuckles would be back in their useful range.

 

[bowman316]

Re: How to shorten up forestay and Mainstay cables?

the stays are not that loose. they are semi-tight, kinda like a guitar string.