New standing rigging is too short

[fishsail]

I am rebuilding a 1975 Cape dory 25' I had new standing rigging made from the rigging on the mast that the prior owner said was correct.
We tried raising the mast this weekend with no luck. the lower shrouds are close to 9" too short. The upper shroud is about 2" short. What is the best way to correct this without making new shrouds?

[Tayana42]

Make new shrouds.


S/V B'Shert

[TurninTurtle]

Sailboat Pin Shroud Adjusters | APS

Find adjusters long enough rated for the loads.

[pcmm]

Its too late now, but did you step the mast ( or unstep it) with the original rig?

[dlymn]

Have you put the turnbuckles on the shrouds? 9" is about their length. If so, make a heavy duty stainless rectangular bar to go from shroud to deck fitting.

[neilpride]

Be sure the mast is straight before to attempt to link the wires in the screws... and the turnbuckles are wide open , if still short you need the right dimension again in the wires. Cheers.

[Cheechako]

Put in an extra toggle or two?

[Seman]

Have the rigger make an extension, or make it yourself out of flat SS, 2 pieces of 3/16 x 3/4 flat with a 3/8 pin on each end, 10" long & all should be OK.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Seman

Have the rigger make an extension, or make it yourself out of flat SS, 2 pieces of 3/16 x 3/4 flat with a 3/8 pin on each end, 10" long & all should be OK.

I had that on my headstay, not sure why. I guess the PO measured it wrong too. It worked fine, but may not look as nice. For shrouds, they will likely be covered, the headstay not though. You have a hank-on headsail right? Downside is the sail won't come all the way down to the deck. After all your beautiful work, I am sure it was crushing to see the shrouds hanging so high! It happens to the best of them!

[UNCIVILIZED]

Simple: CHEAT! In other words; bob your new uppers by a few inches. Perhaps even to match the lowers in terms of (lack of) length. And then use Spectra (Dyneema) lashings in lieu of turnbuckles (or with them, if you absolutely "have to"; but it'll spoil the look & gain you little).

It's a Proven, KISS, Cheap fix. And no one will ever know that they weren't purposefully built short, unless you tell them as much And they'll look sexy, especially with the right colored cord for the lashings.

[barnakiel]

Mind fore and aft lowers may have been swapped.

Mind there should be enough space for the turnbuckles.

Otherwise use toggles.

b.

[Cheechako]

The do make extra long swage fittings. On some of your problems replacing the lower fitting with those may be enough. on the 8-10" issue it wont.

[charliehows]

chain - I had my new rigging wires made short on purpose so i could use chain to make up the difference when i was fitting them - makes the whole job easy and looks pretty good too. Learned the hard way when the first 2 wires i replaced - the mainmast backstays - came back just a bit too long - bloody nuisance and i realised that theres no easy remedy for stay cut too long but if it was too short i could use chain to get the fit right - common to see chain used this way on older sailing vessels, I thought 'why not ?'

[unclemack]

Can extend the shrouds & stays a few different ways as others have posted. Roller furling headsail (if fitted) might need another new stay though.

First I'd ask the previous owner to think hard about how this could have happened - given that it's costing you a lot more than it should.
A reasonable man will want to help if he can.

Say for example a yard mixed up two similar masts in a rack - two boats could now be struggling with rigs that don't fit.

Before spending any more money I'd lay out everything on the ground to check it against the Cape Dory sail plan and make sure everything fits together as it should. Check mast, boom, sails, reefing/furling etc.

I think it's worth some extra effort now to be sure of no more nasty surprises later on.

Good luck, hope it's all sorted out soon

[fishsail]

Thank you for all the comments. The PO was sketchy at best, down on his luck and about willing to do anything to get rid of this boat. And he is long gone now. All the wire was on the mast when I got her so I thought it was correct. The sail loft had no specs to go by only duplicate what I gave them. I did lay out the mast and boom and install the sails and everything fit well so I had no reason to believe the rigging was wrong. All lower shrouds were the same length. Oh well that's boating.