Any way to shorten side cable length?

[painthappy]

I'm reading where 136 inches seems to be the magical number.

My DN is more around 141...  I have it as tight as I can get it on the side stays, but the forestay must also be short.  This gives me a very tall and upright mast.

This is great for cruising, and just messing around the ice.  Hitting 36 MPH, etc.  But by no means, tuned for racing.

Is there an easy way for me to just trim what I already have, attach new eyes, etc?   

Or should I just pick up a new set of stays?

Newish DN, but currently have an aluminum mast.  The boom is high above the deck.... not the 14 to 12 inches above.  If I drop the boom, there will be a lot of side to side slop in the mast.  Or is that ok with an aluminum mast?

[Geoff Sobering]

Is there an easy way for me to just trim what I already have, attach new eyes, etc?

That would be my approach.
If you know how much you want to shorten them, you could take them to any marine place and have new fittings put on.

As for the correct length, there are a lot of factors... (not the least being the geometry of the boat - esp. the height of the mast-step relative to the plank)

Cheers,

Geoff S.

[Ken Smith]

Shorter is easy. Just cut, trim, and sewage back together. Side stays are lightly loaded. Put the new sewage where your hand goes when starting and you wii do this on purpose forevermore.  Swayed are designed for 100% of wire strength, but a single sewage will induce a slight bend in highly loaded wire.  

Lengthen with strap or adjusters at the bottom of your head stay.

But if you go to this geometry with an aluminum mast, the mast will try to bend then fold.  Those numbers are for composite or wood spars designed to bend. They get modified if boat geometry is much different than Ron's and if spar stiffness is much different than "normal" or if skipper weight and plank or spar stiffness is a mismatch.  

Tuning heaven is when the boat wants to hike in puffs but the mast bends just enough to keep the weather runner just kissing the ice in the average wind.

Ken