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The stock 42 has an offset backstay. If you try to get the tension the same on each side you will end up with a crooked mast. I hired a professional rigger of considerable repute to tune my mast a couple of years ago. He kept adjusting and adjusting to try to get them equal with a straight mast. He finally declared it OK and left with my check. Later I looked at the stern from a distance and the mast was cranked over about 8" at the top. It took some time to get it back straight.

The method Peter describes works well for me. I think a tensioning gauge would be useful if you are resetting your mast or slack the shrouds when on the hard. Once you get it set the way you want you could record all the tensions and reset them once the mast is back up. Personally I just use electrical tape around the threads on the turnbuckles to get it back where it was.

Hello Gene,

You are right. A also calculate about 40 lbs side force from the angled backstay and that isn't enough to bend the mast 8". I didn't describe it very clearly since it wasn't bent, just not vertical. The rigger had spent about an hour messing around with upper shroud tensions trying the get them equal and in the process the mast ended up to starboard. He just didn't bother to do a final check.

Assuming the 2000 lbs backstay tension and looking at the geometry I get that the port upper shroud will need to have about 200 lbs more tension than the starboard. The 40 lbs side force over the approximate 5:1 angle on the upper comes up to 200 lbs. This pretty much matches what the rigger was getting with his gauges.

I don't use a tension gauge but the method Peter describes above. On a good 15 kt day while hard to weather I check the shroud tension and make sure the mast is straight on both tacks. I would agree with Catalina that the offset has negligable effect.

The first year we had the boat it seemed to have quite a bit of weather helm so I moved the mast forward so it almost touches the deck collar at the front and that helped quite a bit. What's been your experience?

The previous owner installed a hydraulic backstay adjuster. There's been quite a bit of debate about whether or not it should be used with our swept back spreaders. I don't consider it an important piece of gear especially since we don't race but use it to leave the backstay pretty loose at the dock and tighten it up when we sail. I guess it's not really a backstay tensioner but more of a backstay "loosener" the way we use it. If I forget to tighten it up we can see it right away in the weather helm and sag on the headstay.

P.S. Actually we do race whenever our good friends and slip neighbors Bob and Rick Teeter on Camelot are on the river. Two identical boats except Bob cheated and put on the new rudder. The winner is the beneficiary of tactics and luck. When I win, it's tactics. When he wins, it's luck. It seems like I lose a few more than I win. Bob says the same thing. Don't you Bob?