Bandit 17 Standing Rigging

I just purchased a Bandit 17 as a winter project. I have a question as to the side shouds and forstay. How are they attached to the U shaped mounting locations. The ends of the side stays and forstay is just finished off with a thimble with a crimped fitting holding it. Is this the way it should be or has it been modified over the years. Should it have turnbuckles? Puzzled any have a picture of how it should be rigged

Hello! The original Bandit manual has the side and fore stays fastened with "chain plates", which are adjustable. As the stays don't stretch much, the chain plates allow some adjustment to tighten everything up. (The original manual is on this website.)

Here's the picture from the manual:

[www.sailmfg.com]

However, on my Bandit, it came with just shackles, which work fine and are a lot less expensive. They're faster to put on and put enough tension on the stays to keep the mast straight and secure.

Dave

Hi Dave

Thanks for the Info. On your Bandit does the side and forstay have a loop around a thimble or a swaged on fitting with a pin. we are on the same I was thinking shackles to.