Backstay adjustment with SSB antenna and radar dome

[thor]

I have recently acquired a Pacific Seacraft 34 that is sloop rigged with a removable solent stay. The back stay has an SSB antenna incorporated as well as a post for the radar dome attached. Not sure how I can measure the tension of wire or how to tell if it has proper tension on the jib stay. Also not sure how much tension the solent stay should have when I have it rigged up. The mast is straight up and both the upper and lower shrouds are pretty set with a dockside tune (~14% of 1/4" breaking for the uppers, ~12% for lowers). Are there any best practices for this type of setup? --thor

[Brion Toss]

Sheesh,
First they put furlers on the jibstay, so you couldn't put a gauge there, then they put biminis around the backstay, so you had to climb up on top of that flimsy canvas to get a gauge onto a clear portion of the backstay, because the part below the bimini had antenna wire zip-tied to it, and there was no place for the gauge there. Or they made it a forked backstay, so not only did you have to work out the relative vectors of backstay and jibstay, you had to work out the relative vectors of backstay and backstay legs, too. And then they thought, what the hell, let's just encase the whole thing in a big pipe, and put the wire completely out of reach unless you're willing to climb halfway up to the masthead, and there your own weight, pulling sideways on the stay, is enough to throw off the reading.
But remember, the gauge is just a handy tool, not the only way to get a tune. In your case, you just need to add tension until you get the desired jib luff sag. Note that, in order to keep desired rake and bend, you might need to add tension to the jibstay as well as the backstay, and this will be difficult, because they've buried the jibstay turnbuckle inside that furler -- oh, never mind.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Auspicious]

At the risk of adding to Brion's comments I do have some thoughts.

He is quite correct that once you are set up adjustments are all about headsail luff sag.

I haven't sailed a PSC34. If they are anything like the bigger PSCs your mast is a tree trunk and any concept of mast bend is a fantasy. With the Solent stay you will only be flying one headsail at a time so if you get the static loads reasonably even wind loading will do the rest, together with the backstay adjuster. Depending on what furler you have you will probably want to ease the backstay to make furling require less effort.

If you can accurately estimate luff sag from the cockpit you are a better sailor than me. I go up and sight along the luff before I declare success.