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New to maintaining my DS III

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:40 pm
by Jmyii
We've recently inherited a DS III and are competent recreational sailors. We've been enjoying it on the lakes of Vermont and in Barnegat Bay in NJ. But we know almost nothing about the maintenance that this boat needs.

I'm pretty sure that the shrouds are too loose - looking at an old post here it says that they shouldn't be slack until about 10 knots of wind. So my noob question is, how do I adjust the tension?

I can release the tension on the nut in this fitting, but I can't see how to get the fitting to travel up and down the shroud without removing it from the boat. It seems a rather tedious amount of guesswork to unrig, tighten a few turns, re-rig and see if it's too tight or too loose. I'll bet there's a better way.

Love this forum and look forward to learning a lot.

Thanks
Jordan
DSIII Shroud Fitting.jpg
DSIII Shroud Fitting
DSIII Shroud Fitting.jpg (137.53 KiB) Viewed 12521 times

Re: New to maintaining my DS III

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:49 pm
by GreenLake
Welcome to the forum.

That barrel thing in the fitting is another "nut" and should turn. Mine are "knurled" so they are easier to grip.

Is that what you are asking?

Re: New to maintaining my DS III

PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:33 am
by Jmyii
That would make perfect sense in how the thing looks like it works. I don't seen any way to get a grip on that barrel and I haven't seen any convenient hole into which I might poke a tool to apply some rotational force to it, but now that the mast is down for a couple of days, I'll look.

Thanks for the thought.

Jordan

Re: New to maintaining my DS III

PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 10:16 am
by GreenLake
They are meant to be adjusted once for the proper length of the stay, not while the mast is standing. That's my understanding.

Re: New to maintaining my DS III

PostPosted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 10:43 am
by Jmyii
Thanks - we'll give them a couple of turns on each side before we rig it again on Monday and see how it goes. Jordan

Re: New to maintaining my DS III

PostPosted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 5:11 pm
by Jmyii
Thanks for the pointers on that - I tightened up each of the shrouds by two turns before rigging and they seem much better now.

Jordan