Diamond Wire ajdustment

I'm very close to getting my boat ready and this weekend I was working on the mast, replacing sheeves, etc. I've noticed that the diamond wires are tight as banjo strings and assumed they were suppose to be. I also noticed a slight bend in the mast when looking down the sail track. I guess this is because one diamond wire is tighter then the other.
The manaul is very vague on what what the adjustment should be.
Can someone tell me what/how I should adjust them to.
The crew wieght shood be around 400lbs. I'm not racing just cruising and just looking for a good all around adjustment setting.
Thanks for any advice.
~John

Traditionally, the H18 diamond wires would be tight for light wind/heavy crew, loose for high wind/light crew. Personally, I've never found the adjustment to make a whole heck of a lot of difference, but here's the general settings...

The H18 Performance Manual (which most use as a guide) recommends putting marks three feet up from the diamond wire bolt at one foot intervals. Press the wires towards the mast (or wrap with bungee cord) and note where they contact the mast. The highest (3 foot mark) is the loosest setting, the 1 foot mark is the tightest. At 400lb, you would be in the medium/heavy range.

sm

Ok, I think i get it. The diamond wires are suppose to a halt the bend in the mast when it gets to a certian point dicated by the looseness of the wire. Is that about right?
I was thinking (in my ignorance) that the wires were exerting force on the mast even at rest to bend the mast fore or aft. Didn't really know which.
The prior makes sense to me.

You got it, the 18 wires are attached to the sides, promoting minor axis bending.

Most "modern" diamond wire setups attach to the front of the mast causing major axis prebend (fore/aft).

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.....which I've seen on some of the local mono hull sail boats around the area. I think this is why i was thinking the h18 was suppose to have a "pre-bend".
Well thats cool. I feel much better about the whole thing.
I'm getting close to my first run on this boat and getting anxious
Thanks for the info.

The geometry of the spreaders/diamond wires really doesn't lend itself to prebending the H18 mast. The spreaders don't rake back very far and the diamond wires connect too far back on the mast.

For just going cruising, I wouldn't get too fixated on these settings. Run the diamonds fairly tight in lighter wind and slack them off for higher wind, otherwise, just go sail.

sm

sounds good. One last question then....where should the diamond rollers be located? I have 2 snap-on's coming and not exactly sure where they best location is.

The rollers connect to the diamond wire above the spreaders. They rest on the top side of the spreader. The purpose is to prevent the jib from getting hung up on the spreaders. It's also a good idea to cover the spreader ends and cotter pins with rigging tape or electrical tape to prevent damage to the jib.

sm