Triadic stay adjustment

[bobsummers]

Hi, It's been a few years since I have posted on spar talk. I'm glad to be back on.
I had my foremast and main mast hauled out, varnished/painted appropriately with 12 coats of varnish and 2 coats primer white and 5 coats easypoxy gloss white.
The masts are back in and now it's time to retension the stays and shrouds. I am gaff rigged, deadeyes on the shrouds and bronze turnbuckles on the stays.....forestay, whiskers, bobstay, triatic (stay from foremast top to main mast top). Running backstays on foremast.
I have 2 shrouds each side of the foremast plus the running back stays. On the main I have 3 shrouds each side, no backstay. All shrouds are deadeyes.
From past reading, I understand that the bobstay/forestay/triatic stay/aft most main shroud need to be adjusted before shrouds.
What is the sequence for the stays and when are the whisker stays adjusted?
What is the sequence for the foremast and mainmast shrouds? I assuming shrouds after stays for tensioning.
Please mention any other steps, sequences, combinations etc. I am missing.
Thanks
Bob Summers

[benz]

Hi Bob,

I may be wrong, but my instinct is to tighten the fore and jib stays last, since having a greater angle than the shrouds, they'll more easily pull the mast out of true if nothing exists to oppose their pull. If they do bend the masts forward (which I've seen), it'll be a lot harder to get them back into place with shroud tension than if you set the shrouds up first, as snug as you need them, then move on to jib and forestay.

According to Tom Cunliffe ([i]Hand, Reef, and Steer, [i]page 41)[i] the eyes of the shrouds by convention go on the mast starboard forward first, then port forward, then starboard aft, then port aft. On my boat (31' gaff-rigged pilot cutter) I tighten them in this sequence as well.

I can't speak to bobstay, since mine is a fixed length and gets tighter as the jibstay does. I don't think timing matters a whole lot on the bowsprit shrouds, but I'd be inclined to set them up before doing the jibstay.

since the headstays are going to put pressure on the triatic stays, I like to set the triatics to where they're not visibly pulling the mastheads together, then tighten up the headstays.

To sum up: my theory is lowers first, caps (if you have them) next, triatics, forestay, bowsprit shrouds, then jibstay.

Best of luck.
Ben

[bobsummers]

Hi Ben, thanks for the quick response. What you suggest makes sense. I do have the shroud eyes on the mast/hounds as you stated and use the same tightening sequence. I will do those first. I really like your thought on the triatic adjustment first, setting it to a light tension follow by the other stays in your sequence with a visual check on all alignment and adjusting as needed for a final finished alignment.
Thanks,
Bob Summers