TOPIC:

Hi, we bought an albacore 18 months ago and the position that the shrounds meet the deck has been altered from the normal. The shrouds now are fixed about 10cm further forward of the standard position. we realised this when we ordered an albacore cover and it doesn't fit properly! Can anyone advise why this alteration might have been made? The standard shrounds position fixing points seem to be in good condition.

Jim Percy pointed out to me that over time, the trend has been to move the shrouds further forward (in terms of deck level) - I assume this is to give less interference with the main on a broad reach or to allow the boom to go further forward on a run.



IIRC there is a maximum forward position from the transom they can be.



Maybe someone started to tune her up at some stage?



Steve

Thanks for this. So in theory there should be no problem with us using the old standard shroud position? This would have the benefit of allowing the cover to sit properly on the deck - as the cover has been made with the slits for the shrouds in the standard position.

Cheers

Glenfender- I would put the shrouds into the standard position straightaway as the little distance aft from the athwartship line of the mast is the only thing preventing the mast disappearing over the bow on a run! Yachts often have shrouds in line with the mast across the boat but they also have backstays!

Dont forget that for a given length of shroud, moving the anchorage points aft will rake the mast back.

Thanks for the advice - however we have looked at the points to which the shrouds are supposed to be attached and they seem to be wee loops which don't appear to be attached right through to the bottom side of the deck - ie you can't see anything on the outside of the hull at the opposite side - if you get my drift. Whereas the points to which the shrouds are attached are bolts which go right through. We are anxious about re attaching the shrouds to these further aft points in case they are not strong enough (and we are going to have to get longer bottle screws or something as the shrouds are not long enough to reach the more aft postition). If anyone has a photo of what the shroud attachment point looks like on an Albacore then that might be helpful.

Ta