TOPIC:

New owner of 7775, a Portor composite.
This has on the water fully adjustable everything rig, its McNamara on Proctor D and I have the tuning guide. What do I put on first? e.g do I measure the rake by adjusting shrouds and then apply rig tension with the jib wire? Sailed it on Sunday in 10kts with just a guess at setup and was lovely.

Hi
Welcome to the Class. I also have a Porter and by coincidence it is also a composite 7525 'Blue Jay'.
If she feels good then that is at least a pointer! The process that that I use is relatively simple. First hoist the jib and apply a minimal tension to the shrouds and jib - the jib wire takes the place of the forestay which is only in place to support the rig if the jib halyard / wire fails. Leave the forestay slack during the set up. I set up the rig using the medium wind measurement for the mast foot position. The mast rake is measured from the top of the mast to the inside edge of the foot of the transom. Start with the light winds measurement and tighten or loosen the jib tension and halyard tensions to achieve the required measurement. Apply tension evenly to the shrouds and jib wire until the correct shroud tension is achieved. Check the rake measurement and adjust jib wire & shrouds as necessary to achieve the required rake. Suggest that you then flex shrouds and jib wire and then check tension and rake again. Once you are happy this is set mark off the positions on the jib halyard / mast and main shroud tensioner. I use coloured tape as a temporary marker. Repeat this process for middle wind and strong wind rake positions. If you want to be purist then you should probably move the mast foot for each set of measurements but this does mean that you would need to move the mast foot each time you sail. Michael McNamara's set up data is a good guide for starters. Once you are happy with your set up mark using a more permanent marker. If I can help any more please contact me. Where are you based?

Andy Pearce

Based at Draycote Water. I have just found my rig tension gauge from when I had Contenders, so now I can do some proper measuring. There are some marks on the shroud control lines, once I have measured I will know what they relate to. I pulled the shrouds to the first mark, which is probably light airs, and then pulled on some jib tension so the shrouds were twangy. Didnt see any marks on the jib control line, probably not enough rig tension yet, leeward shroud did go floppy close hauled during gusts.

If you need rig tension figures I have them somewhere but they are the same as Michael McNamara's. Sometimes there are marks on the mast and sometimes on the control rope. It just depends what sort of jib tension set up that you have. The simplest is a vertical tensioner against the mast as you can mark the setting positions directly on to the mast. My own is horizontal along the centre board case so I have the marks on the jib tension rope. I keep meaning to convert mine but still have not got around to it!

Albacore Andy

Its the basic SuperSpars gauge I have. Rig tension figures I have on paper titled 'Albacore Setting Up Guide' that came with the boat are, Light airs 240lbs, middle winds 300lbs, strong breezes 350lbs. Hope these are not too much for a 30 year old boat. I draw the line at 30kts in a Laser. Andy, I have not yet figured out how to contact you from here?

Ah yes, jib wire attaches to that muscle box, control line comes all the way aft on the center board case. So there may be marks on that muscle box I haven't spotted yet.

I have the same tension gauge and the figures that you quote are correct. Yes I would not go over the stated figures but look closely at the shroud attachment points etc before you wind it up to 350. My boat was built in 1989 and is ok with the tension but I have done extensive re-furb work on her. If you need to contact me there is an email under the committee contacts drop down or phone me on 07969 379988.

Albacore Andy

She is not much different to my own Porter!
Andy