Very sound advice. I've been reading low tech and simple as inexperienced or unskilled. And that was possibly wrong of me.
Trying to get the mast centered has been difficult. The forestay joins the boat just a little (1"-2") off of the center line. and the back stays run to the corners of the transome. I can't see any twisted blocks or fowled lines but I'll be damned if I can get the mast head to dead center. The kicker well sitsl off to the port side of the transom and the battery is also port side forward. And she's small. So a hundred pounds puts her off a bit to port. The shrouds are at 7/8ths so if I want a straight mast, I can't just pull her into line from the side chain plates. The two backstays are the key and I can't quite figure to tighten one or loosen the other. Or perhaps I should just slack them and work from the shrouds. Or build a tensioner.
It's not a cross, it's a pyramid. All the shrouds are coming down to the same chain plate a foot and a half behind the mast.
It's only one level of complexity further than your simple advice.
Thanks for reading and responding Ian.
