I am about to do some restoration to my standing rigging, and I am puzzled by the short piece (approx 3 ft) of wire rigging that is installed as a lower segment of the upper shroud. Was this piece installed at the factory, or was it something that a previous owner did? If installed at the factory, why would it be installed that way, rather than as one piece to the mast top? When replacing this shroud, should I duplicate that configuration, or would a one-piece shroud be better? Any help will be appreciated.
Hi Tom,
Does your FC have a “tall tabernacle” installed for the mast? If yes, I think that short piece of rigging is intended to set a pivot point in the upper shroud equal in height to the pivot point of the mast at the tabernacle. When raising / lowering your mast you attach a couple of lines to each shroud’s pivot and secure those lines to the deck fore and aft of the shroud’s chainplate. Now that keeps tension in the shrouds while you raise and lower the mast, thus keeping that long lever called a mast in line while you get it into position, either standing up or laying down.
If you don’t have the tall tabernacle, I don’t know what its purpose is and you could replace the shroud with a single piece unit.
ron walton
editor: FC News
Is there an isolating connection between the pieces? If so, it might have been done that way to use as an SSB antenna. If you don’t plan on doing that, I can’t think of any reason to leave it as two pieces… just adds in more weak points.
Is there an isolating connection between the pieces? If so, it might have been done that way to use as an SSB antenna. If you don’t plan on doing that, I can’t think of any reason to leave it as two pieces… just adds in more weak points.
Just to follow up … fcsailor had it right. The pivot points of the upper shrouds align with the pivot point of the mast. Thanks very much for that bit of info. I am having the upper shrouds duplicated as they are. I also now understand what the forward blocks on the cabin top are for.