rigging tension

[Lew Morris]

can someone offer suggestions on how to determine standing rigging tension values? surely you don't just blue torque 'em...

this is for personal use; on my little 17'er.
fractional rig, no backstay, heavy air, and big swells
(in case that has some bearing on the subject)

also have a 21' Venture, and am rebuilding a J24 that will need it.

thanks,

LM

First let me say I'm not an expert in the field. I'm a jewelry designer. I had a Catalina 22 that I needed the same info for. I ran a search on the web for Catalina 22, rigging, stay, tension, etc. and came up with a tuning guide from North Sails.
I bought a Loose tension guage from EBay and away I went at tuning. If you find a boat with similar rig (mast, lwl, beam, sail area, etc.) I would go with taht. You cant be that far off and then just play with it in different wind conditions to see if you notice any difference. My email is Travis@sandia.net if you have a question or comment.

Travis Duggan
wooden boat enthusiast extrordinaire