good solution David R.! i've bent a few t-bolts ... it happens. on SWEET PEA i run the shrouds a little loose (still 'snug' but not at all close to Catalina 22 tight). haven't had a problem with this (mast is still up). for raising/lowering i only loosen the backstay turnbuckle (as mentioned by another earlier in this discussion). -- :: Dave Scobie :: former M15 owner - www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred :: M17 #375 SWEET PEA - www.m17-375.webs.com On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 5:52 PM, David Rifkind <drifkind@acm.org> wrote:
When the mast tilts back on its heel, the top goes up, but not by very much. In fact it’s the cosine error of a very small angle and comes out to be maybe .015”. The shrouds look to be almost exactly in line with the mast so they’re really not going over center. I don’t think this adds up to anything.
My T bolts can’t be bending when the mast is up or nearly up, because they bend in the same plane as the chainplate tab, which is the direction the shackle pivots. In fact the shackle and T bolt form a U-joint. The only way it can bend is when it’s out of plane with both pivots.
This actually happens when the base of the shroud is trying to go from horizontal to vertical. Look:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ard2whxn1u62ksk/P3290005-Edit-2.jpg?dl=0
The shackle (on the upper only) drops to the outside, the turnbuckle swings back, and trying to pull the shroud upright pulls sideways on the T bolt until the shackle pops upright.
However, if the shackle is upright to start with:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tvrfyvkihd3t310/P3290004-Edit.jpg?dl=0
Which leads me to this One Weird Trick:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vedty5ctl7gb63a/P3290001.jpg?dl=0
Yeah. A rubber band.